Esther Peters and her dog Gaston are almost inseparable. Peters, a nursing student at West Kentucky Community and Technical College who has Type 2 diabetes, has trained Gaston for a special purpose – he is her personal glucose meter. Gaston comes to campus with Peters and lets her know when she needs to eat to correct her sugar levels. Peters will share her training experience with Gaston during a free science seminar at the college November 19.
During the presentation, which is free and open to the public, Peters will share about how she trained Gaston to be able to detect her glucose levels and how she taught him to alert her. She will also share how that training may be used to help others train their dogs to do the same thing. The presentation will be held from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Waller Hall, Room 112.
“I trained Gaston as a research project just to see if it could be accomplished,” said 35 year-old Peters, a resident of Mayfield. As a parent of five children, Peters said she it’s important to offer hope to parents of children with diabetes. “I hope to help them learn how to train their dogs to alert glucose levels as a backup detection plan and to provide a sense of security.”
Peters said the training can also help families save money. A canine that is trained in a laboratory can cost over $15,000, she said. “That cost can seem hopeless for families that need a dog to help them with health issues such as diabetes because insurance won’t cover it.”
Always wanting to be in the medical field, Peters said she loves nursing and is exciting about her future-nursing career. But research also continues to be a passion for Peters. In the future she hopes work with physicians to train dogs to detect other diseases. “I want to be able to teach dogs how to detect cancer and alert their owners early; I really feel that’s possible.”
For more information about the science seminar, call (270) 534-3236.
During the presentation, which is free and open to the public, Peters will share about how she trained Gaston to be able to detect her glucose levels and how she taught him to alert her. She will also share how that training may be used to help others train their dogs to do the same thing. The presentation will be held from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Waller Hall, Room 112.
“I trained Gaston as a research project just to see if it could be accomplished,” said 35 year-old Peters, a resident of Mayfield. As a parent of five children, Peters said she it’s important to offer hope to parents of children with diabetes. “I hope to help them learn how to train their dogs to alert glucose levels as a backup detection plan and to provide a sense of security.”
Peters said the training can also help families save money. A canine that is trained in a laboratory can cost over $15,000, she said. “That cost can seem hopeless for families that need a dog to help them with health issues such as diabetes because insurance won’t cover it.”
Always wanting to be in the medical field, Peters said she loves nursing and is exciting about her future-nursing career. But research also continues to be a passion for Peters. In the future she hopes work with physicians to train dogs to detect other diseases. “I want to be able to teach dogs how to detect cancer and alert their owners early; I really feel that’s possible.”
For more information about the science seminar, call (270) 534-3236.