It is never easy to speak to children about a disease. Especially when this disease makes them feel very different from all the other children, as is the case with diabetes.

Norma Grau, a nurse from Barcelona, has written a story for diabetic children – Teo the Duckling –  that would help them learn in an easy and educative way that they mustn’t feel different or ashamed  for being diabetic. “Children must incorporate the illness into their daily life, but it is not easy at first. Various vital infancy stages have to be taken into account when helping them with the educational therapy. At the age of 4-6 years old they may feel different from their colleagues and friends, especially when doing check-ups as well as giving themselves insulin dose injections. To include the illness into their daily life activities plus avoiding stigmatization have been the key to develop our project”, says Norma Grau.

The nurse also had the story superbly illustrated by her colleague, Cristina Serrat Gómez, making it very appealing to children.

This story was  shared for the first via Care Challenge by Norma Grau and was then selected both by Connecting Nurses and the WeObservatory. Here at the WeObservatory we are planning to help the nurse further develop her idea : during 2014/2015 we will contribute to the creation of another story  customized for girls. We also plan to create an animated version of the stories. We will keep you updated on this project through our blog.

The story currently exists in three languages.

Click to access the PDF versions : English, Castellano and Catalán.