Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Information - Blog

http://www.cbc.ca/calgary…aw20051115.html

Check out the title link for this story.

We have something of a problem here in Queensland Australia, where schools don’t even have guidelines or regulations for children with food anaphylaxis. Some of the other states do. Go figure.

“Only through education and awareness and training can anaphylactic children truly be safe in schools,” she said. “A regulation or a guideline, in our opinion, never equals law. Law imposes new duties on school boards.”

Also in the story.

“Dr. Joel Doctor, an allergy specialist, says legislation isn’t needed because schools already have policies in place to protect children. He said segregating food in certain areas could also give allergic students a false sense of security.”

A false sense of security is exactly right. So the kids sit down to eat their lunch separately. That may make it a bit safer for that 5 mintues, but isn’t really teaching the kids or their friends any sort of control over what they are doing. Then 5 minutes after eating separately they are out in the playground without cleaning themselves up from lunch and they are exposed to a kid that is covered with a contaminate.

In the end it comes down to everyone in the school having a high sense of awareness, and that the child surrounds themselves with peers that also know what’s going on.

Aaron

http://www.newsday.com/ne…trail-columnist

“I’ll never forget a 3-year-old girl I treated in the emergency room, who nearly died of an anaphylactic reaction after sipping a small amount of milk from the girl next to her. Food allergies can be deadly and therefore must be taken seriously. The classroom offers an excellent opportunity to include and accept children with different needs. It may be an inconvenience for parents to send a snack without peanuts when their “snack rotation” comes up, but imagine how much more inconvenient it is to live with this issue 24/7 in a wide variety of situations.”

The kind gestures of just 1 or 2 people in a class of 25 students are major to those of us that parent children of food anaphylaxis.

It makes my blood boil when parents of non food allergic children insist on their right to give their child whatever food they like because it might upset their routine to do otherwise. Upset their routine people.

The fact that our children could come home in a body bag each day because of their food choices doesn’t phase them one bit.

Aaron

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1312078

What a great article this one is about 2 young girls in the US.

“Riley Mers and Shaylyn Poreda have severe food allergies the kind that could kill them. Fanny packs of medicine and walkie-talkies accompany the two kindergartners wherever they go at school.”

Every school should have walkie-talkies or some similar mobile communication device. Regardless of whether there are children with medical conditions that require it.

“Her students wash their hands as part of their routine start of the day, and Cavera read the children’s book Allie the Allergic Elephant to them to help explain why Riley and Shaylyn might be treated a bit differently.”

It’s all about setting up routines that usually just revolve around general hygine anyway.

The best line in the article that made me laugh was this one.

“And a church they wanted to join told them they couldnt accommodate Riley and were worried about the liability, Mers said.”

Now that is a classic.

Aaron