Talking Allergies

Hi,
I reside in Ontario. I have recently contacted a representative at the Ministry of Education about the possibility of "adding Anaphylaxis education", right into the "Health Education Curriculum". This is the year to do it!!
The Ministry reviews their curriculum every few years and it is up for review this year. I was informed this process begins in May/07 and is reviewed in Sept/07 - the process can take up to a year to implement.
With Sabrina's Law in effect, this is a great resource to refer to when asking for changes to the curriculum.
I had done some research on the teacher on-line learning modules, in accordance with Sabrina's Law, and looked at teacher lesson plans, etc. I have shared this information with my child's school and they are working well with me and have began to teach more about allergies/anaphylaxis in my child's grade 4/5 classroom. Ahh... a sigh of relief!

I am sure it is time consuming for teachers to implement anaphylaxis education on their own accord. It is wonderful that we have these on-line modules, and lesson plans, however, I believe that if the teachers/educators also had a guide to follow from the Ministry of Education Curriculum, it could really have a great impact on how much is being taught about anaphylaxis.

I am excited that there is a potential of this being implemented. I am awaiting further information and my goal is to keep trying. As I said, this is perfect timing, this is the year for curriculum changes.

Would love to hear your feedback!!

Thank you,
Debbie

Daughter Allergic to: peanut butter, peanuts, tree nuts

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Have a Daughter with allergy to peanuts/nuts.

Excellent idea. Do you have a contact name or number in the ministry?
Kate

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Thanks.

I just made a phone call this past week and the representative is looking into it further to obtain more information for me and will be calling me this week. I'm hopeful.
I have also spoke to my daughter's allergist and he will assist me by means of a "letter of support", if I ask for one, he was pleased with the idea.
I haven't used this forum much, so I thought I would put the word out there and see how many others would be interested if I need some more support.

Thanks again.

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Have a Daughter with allergy to peanuts/nuts.

I think that would be a great idea! The more that teachers and students know about anaphylaxis the safer our kids will be. If this was part of a lesson plan, the teachers would also end up feeling more comfortable and more prepared in the event of an emergency -- I find when you have to teach someone something, you end up reinforcing your own understanding of the subject material. Let us know what we can do to help .

Anaphylaxis Canada has many school lesson plans available.
http://www.safe4kids.ca/content/schools/schools.asp

The site seems to be down today (possibly updating it?) but I did find this lesson plan elsewhere on their website.
http://www.anaphylaxis.ca/joe/teachersindex.htm

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

The site is available now.

DebV - I think this is a brilliant idea. Have you touched base with Anaphylaxis Canada about what you are doing? They have been working very closely with the Ontario Ministry of Education with regards to Sabrina's Law and might be able to assist.

Definitely keep us posted.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Finding lesson plans is not usually a problem. The wonderful thing about including it in the curriculum is that first it will have to be covered by the teacher and the large topic of anaphylaxis will be broken down into age appropriate topics for each grade level. The specific expectations for each grade level will build on the knowledge and understanding gained in the previous year.

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Hi,
Thanks for the web site links. I have used safe4kids, it's great! Will check out the others .
I agree that adding anaphylaxis to the curriculum will take some pressure off of the teachers, and agree they stand to gain more knowledge at the same time, so it's a win-win. Also agreed the students knowledge will only get better as each year passes by.

Karen - Thanks. I did place a call to Anaphylaxis Canada this week and a student there answered my call. She made an inquiry and phoned me back, and she said because they are a non-profit organization they don't join outside sources. Said they welcome and support my goal. She provided me with contact info. for the C.E.O. whom I can send updated information once I have some.

I will definitely keep everyone posted as I get more information.

It's great to have support!

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Have a Daughter with allergy to peanuts/nuts.

Bill 3 speaks of a policy for the disemination of information on life threatening allergies to parents pupils and employees. I think they use the Anaphylaxis resource Kit to teacher the employees and various newsletters and notes home to inform parents. I haven't seen much focussing on the student.
My daughter's SK class studied Nutrition and the Body. It seems to me that anaphylaxis would fit nicely in there. It also opens the door for hygiene when you concider proper hand washing and issues of cross contamination, you can also talk about germs and the need for proper hand washing.
Could the Public Health Department help you?

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Hi Susan,

I am in total agreement with you. Focusing on educating the students is ultra important. Our kids come home and educate us on what they learned today at school. Kids can teach parents, aunts, grandparents, neighbours, etc. It's not always mom or dad who packs their lunch/snacks for school. If the classmates of the allergic child, gain a better understanding of "why" they are asked not to bring in certain food products, they will hopefully have more empathy for the allergic kid. My daughter recently said she overheard a classmate say, "I can't wait till I get home so I can have a p.b. sandwich". Maybe comments of this nature will lesson once these kids have had the opportunity to be better educated on allergies, a.p.
Maybe you could print out a lesson plan and take it to your daughter's teacher and express you would be quite pleased if she could spend a few minutes on this topic? I know two parents in Calgary, AB, who go to the school themselves and teach there son's classmates about a.p. This would not be "cool" in my daughters mind - so I don't go there.

Re: HANDWASHING - a very valid point indeed - one I bring up each Sept. to the schools, and supply them with a copy of the brochure I got from the county health unit a couple years ago and I inform them they do "in class presentations" - free of charge as far as I know, but still, it is not implemented. I also agree with you, germs alone (influenza, hepatitis, etc.), should constitutute the need for proper hand washing. This should be a mandate in all schools. Then add to that the dangers of cross-contamination, even more of a reason to do so.

I have called the public health dept. in the past and they generally refer me to the AAIA for allergy related issues. I have a couple other contact names I can also approach in my quest to add anaphylaxis to the curriculum. For the time being, I am awaiting the call from the Ministry of Ed. rep. to see what direction he points me in.

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Have a Daughter with allergy to peanuts/nuts.

I went to Health Canada and searched hand washing. Several articles came up including this one that has a component aimed at teachers with lesson plans. It seems to have language options too.
http://www.dobugsneeddrugs.org/
I will ask my daughters Principal what they intend to do to prepare the SK class for regular school next year and eating lunches. I expect that we will have an allergy support meeting soon and want to be clear on what happens at lunchtimes.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Just an FYI. In the winter my son's school in BC had a public health nurse come into his class and the classes in the rest of the school, and taught them how to wash their hands, cough into their arms instead of into their hands etc. I believe it was when the BC government was also spending a large sum of money to teach health care workers how to properly wash their hands.

It was tied into the schools monthly theme about staying healthy, balanced diet and getting active.

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6 year old son ana to peanuts, cashews, asthma, eczema
Almost 3 year old daughter, not tested yet
Husband, lucky guy with no allergies
Self, trees, weeds & grass girl, cats, dogs, chemical sensitive, eczma & now peanuts, fish, shellfish & penicillin

The "do bugs need drugs" thing is going to be very big - one of our group has been certified to teach it.

"do bugs need drugs" What age group is that directed to?

One of the things I asked our allergist when our son was diagnosed with anaphylaxis to nuts was would he be willing to see him in a few years, not only when he was retested but also to discuss with him what he needs to know to help himself safe. Instead of him just hearing it from us, his parents.

Our health authority can assist with this ongoing "education". The health nurse can discuss the ana subject with him. (Our particular nurse is fantastic). They send children with learning challenges to see the special needs teacher (forgive me for not being PC, I can't remember the proper name for the teacher).

When I was pregnant with both our kids, they sent me to a nutritionist to manage gestational diabetes, to "educate" me.

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6 year old son ana to peanuts, cashews, asthma, eczema
Almost 3 year old daughter, not tested yet
Husband, lucky guy with no allergies
Self, trees, weeds & grass girl, cats, dogs, chemical sensitive, eczma & now peanuts, fish, shellfish & penicillin

Sorry, I see the link is posted above. I can go there ....

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6 year old son ana to peanuts, cashews, asthma, eczema
Almost 3 year old daughter, not tested yet
Husband, lucky guy with no allergies
Self, trees, weeds & grass girl, cats, dogs, chemical sensitive, eczma & now peanuts, fish, shellfish & penicillin