Local News

Nuts to allergens

By ALLI VAILNews Reporter
September 21^st, 2007

Not all classrooms are exactly alike at Parksville Elementary School. Nathan Clark's classroom is peanut free. The Grade 1 student is deathly allergic to peanuts. The school, like others in the district, has implement procedures to keep him and two other students in his class safe. Nathan's mother, Allison, discovered his severe allergy when he was 18 months old. "I fed him peanut butter,"Allison said, noting her son's eyes swelled up and he instantly vomited. "At the time I just gave him a super dose of Benadryl." There have been a few other incidents. At Woodgrove Mall one year, Nathan got a shaped balloon. He pretend to blow it up and stuck the end in his mouth. He instantly dropped to the ground. The person who had blown up the balloon had eaten peanuts earlier in the day. "Every time they come into contact with peanut s again it increases the reaction,"Allison said. Nathan also can't eat or be exposed to products that may contain traces of peanuts. The school doesn't call itself peanut free, although Nathan's classroom is deemed such. Rather, the principal of the school, Mary Beil, calls it a peanut-aware school, and the facility has a four-part plan. "We are trying to look at the physical environment and reduce the possibility of the risk of those allergens being present,"Beil said. "We start with the actual classroom." The carpet in the classroom where the three children with peanut allergies are was moved to another classroom and is going to be replaced. Information about safe products and food and peanut allergies went out to the guardians of students in the class and the teacher was informed before school started. "Then, going out from there, we were concerned with the washroom,"Beil said. There is one bathroom in the school specifically set aside for the three students with allergies. It is cleaned at night and locked so user groups can't access it. ""We've really taken some cautions,"Beil said. Common areas in the school, like the music room and gym also present a challenge. No food is allowed in any of the shared classrooms. "Another thing is to inform and make people aware,"Beil said. Information about peanut allergies, safe products and hygiene goes home in school newsletters. The school has also trained noon hour supervisors about anaphylaxis and instructed staff on what to look for and how to use an EpiPen, which all the allergic students have. There is also an emergency procedure in places and all the noon supervisors carry radios so they can contact the school office. There are cards with the symptoms and treatment protocols regarding anaphylaxis and a binder that can travel in an ambulance with information. "I feel positive about what we've done,"Beil said. "I like to think we're taking a pro active approach." She is not the only one who feels good about what has been done. Allison is comfortable sending her son to school. "Parksville Elementary is doing the best they can,"Allison said. "I feel pretty confident sending him to school." Some areas are harder than others to control - like the playground, which is used by students and other children in the community. "We've considered what steps to take to minimize any danger in the playground,"Beil said. "The playground, it's an area of some concern. We're not sure of the best answer at this time." But the playground is not the only questionable place for children with peanut allergies. Nearly everywhere accessible to the public poses a danger. "You just have to have an EpiPen always on hand,"Allison said. "Just that awareness is good to have in public areas." Allison hears concerns about the peanut allergies from other parents at the school. "I get concerns about what to buy, how to read labelling,"she said. On the first day of class this year, Allison came in to help the teacher read the labels on children's snacks. "DARE products are fantastic,"Allison said, adding people need to buy products manufactured in a peanut free facility. She said there are even peanut free Mars Bars and Nestle Chocolate Bars. "I bring this up because it's Halloween time,"Allison said. She said if something is peanut free, it's written in bold letters on the packages. Parksville Elementary School has posters on the wall showing parents what products don't contain nuts. The school Parent Advisory Council bakes with peanut free recipes. Peanut traces can show up almost everywhere. "Often, certain dog foods and pet products ... will have nuts or peanuts,"Allison noted. Parents also ask Allison about what children need to do for hygiene to avoid spreading nut traces. Parksville Elementary School and others, like Arrowview Elementary, have taken steps to protect students, but School District 69 (Qualicum) doesn't have a policy in place regarding severe allergies yet. "We don't have a specific policy on anaphylaxis at the moment,"said Sean McKierahan, the assistant superintendant of schools. He said there are a number of policy referring to allergies and dealing with them. He said the district has been working on a anaphylaxis policy for awhile now. "We have a draft policy,"McKierahan said. The district is waiting for a package from a provincial anaphylaxis committee formed in the spring. McKierahan said the ministry announced a week ago that the package with the most up to date information is ready. "We're just waiting for the package,"McKierahan said. "I've heard it's in the mail." Recently, according to McKierahan, the Ministry of Education announced school districts are required to have a policy on anaphylaxis. "We're ready to go,"McKierahan said. "We have been working on it for the past year." He said once the district has the package they can move the policy forward pretty quickly. "It's a very important issue for us,"McKierahan said. For more information see www.anaphylaxis.ca. entertainment@pqbnews.com -30-


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