A new website designed for children with diabetes is to be launched at an upcoming conference on Type 1 diabetes organized by the Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat (Safed).
The Breinin Center for Type 1 Diabetes and Endocrinology at the Ziv Medical Center, headed by Dr. Orna Dali Gottfried, and the Kav-Or organization, have collaborated to produce a fun, accessible website on proper nutrition for children with diabetes. The website includes Flash technology designed for distance learning from hospital wards. The intended audience for the new website includes children with Type 1 diabetes from around the country, as well as teachers and parents.
Distance learning technology and methods are the specialties of Kav-Or, a registered charity which provides distance learning and virtual playgrounds for hospitalized children. Founded in 1993, Kav-Or now operates in more than 100 children's wards in 27 hospitals, from Eilat in the south to Nahariya in the north.
Practical content
Yoram Yanai, the new website's designer, said that access to the online content is through a virtual water park on the homepage. Through colorful, user-friendly visual interactive elements, visitors to the website will learn about sugar levels, insulin use and nutrition. Yanai added that the new website focuses more on practical issues than on detailed study of the issues raised.
The team at Ziv Medical Center responsible for the website's content collected the questions most frequently asked by children with diabetes about nutritional challenges they face. The posted answers touch on such issues as holiday meals and extracurricular activities (school trips, restaurants, sports activities, etc.), giving the children tools and information to handle the situations that may arise. For example, in order to calculate the insulin-to-carbohydrate ratio of various meals, the website includes an interactive Flash carbohydrate calculator with visual and textual elements.
Ety Amir, a nutritionist at Ziv Medical Center, emphasized the importance of training children in good eating habits and proper nutrition as a necessary treatment for Type 1 diabetes. The correct diet assists in maintaining a healthy blood-sugar level and prevents long-term complications typical of the disease.
To maximize the usefulness of the site, there is also online contact with the staff at Ziv Medical Center's Center for Type 1 Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Ziv Medical Center is a 304-bed general medical facility providing comprehensive services in 37 units, labs and institutes, including a Regional Trauma Unit, Neonate ICU, the Spingold Child Development Center, the Suzy Eban Oncology Unit and the School of Nursing, as well as a regional facility in Kiryat Shemona incorporating a Front Line Emergency Room staffed by specialists trained to care for civilians injured in terror attacks, and a dialysis center.