Living with Diabetes

Meet Advanced School Advocate, Katherine (Kitty) Koffer.
"It's Empowering to Help Parents Advocate for Themselves."

Katherine (Kitty) Koffer, PharmD, CDE had been providing diabetes education for many years as part of her practice as a pharmacist, as well as a faculty member at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Working with the families of children with diabetes, she often heard about challenges in schools that affected the ability to control children's diabetes and their level of participation in activities.

In the spring of 2011, Kitty was invited by her local Association office to attend the Advanced School Advocate Training in Chicago. She happily attended and, what a difference it has made! The most valuable part of training was learning new perspectives–especially from the school nurse, legal and legislative sides. Kitty realized that understanding the full spectrum of diabetes care is critical and it has made her a better practitioner. "The training was wonderful! I didn't realize what an impact I could have on the legal protection of the child and, very importantly, successful resolution to problems." One example is a parent who attended one of Kitty's parent workshops. Initially, the parent was very frustrated with the way diabetes was addressed at the school. After the workshop, with Kitty's help, this parent gained confidence about her child's legal rights, became an effective negotiator and worked with the school to create a win-win outcome–without the need for litigation!