Talking Allergies

Hello,
I am a member of our school's Parent Council, and we would like to host an education evening on allergies, as we have a new student with severe allergies, and a lot of us are unfamiliar with allergies and the potential danger for this student.
Has anyone ever hosted this kind of education session? Any tips or advice?
Thanks,
PACmom

Allergy Safe Communities is a great place to start.
http://www.allergysafecommunities.ca/pa ... p?catid=11
Depending on where you are, you may have the resources of a Public Health Nurse or a member of Anaphylaxis Canada's speakers bureau available to come and talk with you.

This page contains the links to many organizations: http://www.allergysafecommunities.ca/pa ... p?catid=36

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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

PACmom, I want to say a big 'THANK YOU' for being so mindful and considerate of the new student's allergies, and your eagerness to educate yourself and others.. . . to the point of doing research and posting on this site! You are every allergic parent's dream! Thank you!

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

It's so nice to know that there are schools and individuals like you who are want to support our kids.

Gwen has put together great go-to list of resources:

http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=41

Also, Anaphylaxis Canada has podcasts you can download, titles include Anaphylaxis 101,
Anaphylaxis in Elementary School, and Anaphylaxis in Secondary School.

http://www.anaphylaxis.org/content/prog ... centre.asp

This is a link to PBS' Health for Kids Series. They have good information particular to peanut allergies, as the Arthur character, Binky, has a peanut allergy. There are good info sheets for kids.

http://pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteache ... th/#peanut

This is a "Be a Pal- Protect a Life" brochure and hero recognition award from the FAAN website. I really like giving the awards at the end, and have the brochures available in the school.

http://www.foodallergy.org/pal.html

My favorite is the same as Susan's, the allergy safe community site. A hard copy of the document has been given to every public school in Canada. I find that for a fast information session, working from the Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan sheet is good, because it goes over symptoms and what to do. It also has a "tick box" for asthma, which is important as kids with asthma and at risk for anaphylaxis will have more severe reactions, and may identifiy themselves as having asthma, when in fact they are having anaphylaxis. The nice thing about the sheet is it is set up to have directions for the Epipen or Twinject on the back.

http://www.allergysafecommunities.ca/as ... en-eng.pdf


The other thing you will need is a Epipen and Twinject trainer, which are available free from the sites, although your school may have one already, as they were sent out too. They are easy to use, but it is really important that people know how to use them before a reaction occurs.

http://www.epipen.ca/

http://www.twinject.ca/

If you need anything else, be sure and say so, and let us know how it goes!

(Sorry I can't get my links to work properly.)

Ditto how great it is for your PAC to he proactive! You have no idea how that is appreciated by those of us who live with allergies every day.

I think a presentation from a parent or a student from your school or another one could be really good. I know that when I have shared our story about the anaphylaxis reaction it makes it more real for people. We have never shared it in a public setting but have still told many people.

There is a thread elsewhere about a board member's daughter who is doing presentations at her school --- she doesn't even have the allergies - it is her younger sibling!

_________________
me: allergic to crustaceans plus environmental
teenager: allergic to hazelnuts, some other foods and environmental

You also need to be careful regarding the student's privacy. I would definitely talk with the family to find out how much they want people to know but of course you can always do it in an educational way without mentioning any student.

At one time my child did not give the school permission to tell students about her allergies --- since there were others with similar ones she didn't want everyone knowing specifics on hers. It really depends the age --- it seems that under 12 don't care if the world knows but more private once a teenager.

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me: allergic to crustaceans plus environmental
teenager: allergic to hazelnuts, some other foods and environmental

The Ottawa Public Health Department has prepared a presentation Anaphylactic prevention for professionals who work with young children.

http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/health/f ... ex_en.html

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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

Thank you all for the information and links - I will do a bit more research.

Part of our worry is the attitude of "why should we have to change for ONE kid?"

We want to make sure that everyone knows it's a serious issue.

How many children need to die before it becomes important enough?

We're talking about education here, not drastic changes to everyones diet. We're not saying they can never eat a peanut. We're talking about repecting each other.

I often start by going to the school or school board websites and taking a look at the mission statement. I can't see how anyone who believes in the mission statement could possibly say a granola bar or pizza party is more important that a child.

Here are a couple of examples.

Toronto District School Board:

http://www.tdsb.on.ca/_site/ViewItem.as ... pageid=534

Greater Victoria BC School board:

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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

Those are lovely reminders, Susan.

School & school memories are something that shape every child's adult life.

Thanks PACmom for taking this on and seeking out advice. The difference with allergic disease from, say, asthma or diabetes, is that we do have to ask others to be cautious with their food.

Sometimes what others don't understand is 2 things:
- the risk involved of ingesting "trace" exposures.
- That anaphylaxis is not only serious, but very fast-moving. Sometimes a reaction can turn bad in a few minutes.
That's why the training on auto-injectors, food accommodations and hand-washing with young kids are so important. The No. 1 goal here is prevention of an emergency, and knowing what to do should an reaction occur.

With food allergies, in some ways it literally does "Take a Village" to keep these children safe.

FYI - at the risk of inundating you - you might find this information from Dr. Estelle Simons, a leading expert on anaphylaxis, helpful in making your case: http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=19

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Just reraising as the school year is fast approaching!

Here's an oldie, but a goodie!

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/ad ... 86-eng.php

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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

This quote from Health Canada using Susan's link should be shared with schools as well as many of our families and any naysayers:

There is no cure for food allergies. The only option is complete avoidance of the particular allergen. This is why it is important that allergic children not be exposed to allergens that regularly cause extreme and sometimes fatal reactions.

_________________
me: allergic to crustaceans plus environmental
teenager: allergic to hazelnuts, some other foods and environmental

It is also imperitive to be trained and educated in recognition of anaphylaxis and how to respond in the event of an emergency.


- ask to go the training session if you can, go now, your school may have one scheduled for the week before classes start Take your child

- ask to see where the spare epi pens are kept, does everyone on staff know, who is in charge of it being taken on field trip, are they readily accessible and does that mean under lock and key

- take a photo if you want her to be recognized by staff. Ask where it will be hung and go make sure it is

- diarize your calender when epi-pens expire

- check your division policy - are you happy with it? If not, see about making changes, come check the advocacy and accommodation section


Michele

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Myself - Seasonal, cats
dd-asthma (trigger - flu) anaphylactic to eggs, severe allergies to bugspray and penicilin,pulmicort
ds-Seasonal, cats and OAS
dh-allergy cats, bugspray and guava, outgrew egg allergy