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Letter: Food Allergy Advocates of Medfield
Thursday, December 9, 2004
TO THE EDITOR:
An article was written in a recent issue about the Food Allergy Advocates of Medfield, a new advocacy group to assist children who have life threatening food allergies. As one of its founders, I wanted to make sure people had a good understanding as to what our group is all about.
When you have a child with life threatening food allergies you are challenged each day, not only to make sure your child is safe, feels included and confident, but also to convince others that food allergies are really life threatening. People often think you are an over protective parent or crazy. In fact for parents of food allergic children, being vigilant is exhausting, but it is necessary and something we have to do everyday. Our children have to be educated enough about their own allergy to remember to not accept food from others, to wash after eating and to understand what a reaction may feel like so they can tell an adult. What people don't always understand is that if these children come into contact or ingest an offending allergen like peanuts or dairy they won't just get a rash or a cough. Exposure to these allergens could cause anaphylaxis. Stomach cramps, projectile vomiting, eyes swelling, breathing becoming shallow and your throat closing are all things that can happen to these kids, including death. No one wants that for their child; we certainly don't.
By forming this group we are not trying to say the school is not doing their job, because they are. As parents with children with life threatening food allergies we live with this daily and bring our experience and knowledge with us and want to share this knowledge and work with the schools to improve upon an already good system. Our idea for implementing our "hand wipe campaign" came from the Massachusetts State Guidelines for Managing Life Threatening Food Allergies in Schools ([url]http://www.doe.mass.edu/cnp/2002/news/allergy.pdf[/url]).
On multiple pages it states that in lower grades children should wash their hands after coming in contact with food. By doing this it can stop the spread of an offending allergen. Most allergic reactions are accidental. All a child has to do is touch a trace amount of an allergen, say for example peanut butter, and then put their fingers in their mouth. This could result in anaphylaxis. Protecting these kids from exposure is the best way to prevent this from happening. By simply passing out hand wipes to children after lunch for them to wipe their hands and mouths, it cuts down on the possibility of an allergic child having a reaction. I would never let my child play with another child who just ate something he is allergic to before asking that child to wash their hands. Not only does it benefit the food allergic population, but all the children to cut down on the spread of germs. Some may say this is not necessary, but they probably don't have or know a food allergic child.
Through education and initiatives like the hand wipes we hope to make people more aware of life threatening food allergies. We have received nothing but positive reaction from parents and we are thankful and grateful to all of you for your support and understanding.
Christa McQuillan
Medfield
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