Thanks to our panel members and sponsors who donated prizes and congrats to all who won!

If you are interested in being an upcoming panel member or sponsor for our next party-contact me through the contact page here at Best Allergy Sites.

Susan-it’s hard to answer in twitters 140 character limit at times. What doesn’t get answered-feel free to post in our forums section. After the twitter party(sometime this weekend)-I’ll try to answer your ?? there.

One good place to start for school planning is our resource page under allergy 101 and our blog post “when do you need a care plan?”

http://www.bestallergysites.com/allergy101/resources/allergy-resources/

http://www.bestallergysites.com/news/when-do-you-need-a-care-plan-for-food-allergies/

My primary questions right now are:

1) What, if anything, is available for storing epi-pens on school campuses that do not leave the A/C on during nights and weekends? And if nothing is available, what is recommended? My daughter’s school told us the cafeteria A/C was left on, but at the end of the year we learned that wasn’t true. So especially in hot Texas weather, the epi-pens were consistently overheated and likely ineffective.

2) My almost 5 year old daughter is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. Her allergy tests for peanut have shown the levels have dropped quite a bit over the past two years. The tree nut levels are still very high. Her pediatric allergist mentioned to my husband at the last appointment that he wanted to do a challenge before she enters kindergarten. My husband didn’t ask any questions and I wasn’t there. I’d love to hear if anyone has experience with doing challenges and what risks are involved.

3) I think one or more people already mentioned this, but I’m looking for very comprehensive, but brief documentation for schools to use – emergency action plan, check lists for school staff and families (e.g. what to do before the start of the new school year), etc. I met with the school administrators in August and stressed the need to get stuff documented. I offered to write it. They said no – that it was very important that the school staff write it. I learned this week that nothing has been written all year. I offered again but this time said I’d write a draft version that they could modify. They agreed to it. Instead of starting from scratch, I wanted to see if anyone has anything that has worked for them.

4) Does anyone know of a good patch that can be ironed on to a backpack that can serve as a recognizable symbol that epi-pen and other meds are inside? My daughter’s school put up a special backpack hook in rooms where there are children with allergies, but not all the teachers are using it. I suggested that all children who have epi-pens or other meds on campus have some sort of emergency patch on their backpacks so people can find them quickly in the sea of backpacks in a classroom.

I’m looking forward to Friday night!

Twitter only allows 140 characters so it’s sometimes hard to have thoughtful conversations.

ps don’t be scared…it’s doable and workable, I promise!

Mandy

Janice-thanks for sharing your resource and personal story!