Call for universal allergy response plan in schools Newscomau

EDUCATION and health stakeholders are planning to make our schools the best equipped for the country s growing number of allergic kids. A dozen have met to evaluate a pilot teacher training program that finished a month ago in which teachers were taught what to do if a child has a severe allergic episode or anaphylactic reaction. It was deemed a success. Nothing except an accident kills an otherwise healthy child quicker than anaphylaxis. All allergies are increasing but the severity and incidence of food allergies in children are causing more and more concern. Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy president Associate Professor Ray Mullins wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia in June last year that there had been a per cent increase in food allergies in children over the previous decade and no one knew precisely why. There is little doubt this is a massive problem in schools and childcare centres. Queensland Health knows it and recently gave approval f! or principals to buy a device for their schools that would give a child a measured shot of adrenalin if the child s own device failed. It also acknowledged that Queensland children were in a dire predicament when it opened the public pediatric allergy clinic earlier this year. Queensland was the last mainland state to offer such a service to its children and the clinic has been inundated. An Education Queensland survey of principals late last year revealed that at least one anaphylactic episode had occurred at each of schools in the preceding months. It is believed about children had indicated to their schools they were at risk of anaphylaxis. In the shadow of this the panel that met last week considered any changes that might be needed to the Education Queensland Interim Anaphylaxis Guidelines before they become a permanent fixture. Their recommendations are expected to be set in concrete some time next month. Teachers now are trained in what to do in the event of a severe! allergic reaction only if they have a child in their care who is at risk of anaphylaxis and if they want to be trained. But what happens when a relief teacher is in charge of a class This is a regular occurrence in many primary and secondary schools. At high school where students have several teachers the chance of having a teacher who is untrained and uneducated about severe allergies multiplies. And what about those increasing numbers of children who have their first life threatening allergic reaction at school Under the present guidelines teachers or principals can act only if they are trained and the school has a letter from a doctor saying the child is at risk of anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis Australia and the Australian Medical Association Queensland want all teachers compulsorily trained in first aid and the administration of the life saving shots severely allergic kids need if they come in touch with a trigger. It makes perfect sense. Several Liberal National Party members have been pushing for Good Samaritan legislation to be implemented ! to give certainty and legal peace of mind to bystanders teachers volunteers and anyone else who steps in and tries to help an allergy sufferer. It should not matter whether they have a doctor s letter or not. When a severe allergic reaction occurs there should be no delay. It is crazy that Education Queensland is dealing in isolation with this broad and multi faceted health issue. Daycare centres kindergartens and creches anywhere where children are out of the primary care of their parents should have the same rules and guidelines. So far no one is saying who will train the teachers or where funds for the training will come from. The Queensland Ambulance Service was funded to fill that role in the trial but some sources say the department now is considering asking the few already overworked school nurses it has to step up if the program is taken further. Other states are leading the way in how this terrible problem is handled. They have had children die while in the care of! a school or childcare centre. Death is a red hot impetus. From this month in Victoria schools and childcare centres face fines of up to if they do not store appropriate medication train their staff institute a plan or immediately contact parents if their child suffers a severe allergic reaction. In New South Wales a database has been established and someone is employed to record which schools and teachers relief teachers included have allergy and first aid training. Queensland needs to do better. All teachers and carers must be trained. It is important for sufferers and potential sufferers of severe allergies that the chance to have the best system in the nation does not slip by. fclintonjoptusnet.com.au Share this article What is this Digg this Post to del.icio.us Post to Newsvine Also in Health Sales increase Consumers go organic Thin blue line Druggies beat drunks police Report card Minister fudges waiting lists Egg threat Push to ban Kinder Surprise Bed crisis Hospital is rushed Thursday view Schools need allergy plan Patients isolated Su! perbug virus shuts hospital Pregnancy One on one midwives for mums Deadly virus Bailout for Hendra hit clinic Health drink Cancer cure case hits court Female focus TV gives warped view of cancer Pelvic pain survey Pain the norm for women New treatment Help to curb alcohol craving Nourish project Eating plan targets infants Patient ID New wristbands to end mix ups Font size Decrease Increase Email article Email Print article Print Have Your Say Latest Comments Rosmary if you had a child with Anaphylaxis or have ever been to see a Pediatric Allergist and were of complete understanding of the condition getting dirty and rolling around in mud does not in any way stengthen the immune system. So sorry to hear you think it was that easy if only.This has absolutely nothing at all to do with hygeine.ANAPHYLAXIS IS AN ATTACK ON THE BODIES OWN IMMUNE SYSTEM WHEN THE BODY DEEMS THE CULPARIT TO BE HARMFULL HENSE RELEASING HISTIMINE there isnt any amount of dirt in this world that could ! cure this. Posted by rebecca berry of brisbane am today I love reading new statistics that emerge about anaphylaxis and this article is spot on. Even better that the QLD teacher training program was deemed a success. With our anaphylactic child we ended up at a private school rather than a local state school because they took it upon themselves to setup procedures in dealing with anaphylaxis where other schools didn t want to know about it. They could see the need to accomodate for the growing anaphylaxis issue and we happily trained all the staff ourselves years in a row. Now the staff train themselves. Remember that there are always staff coming into schools that haven t been trained or made aware of the potential emergency situation they may run into so it s important that the QLD government get mandates in place to address this. It s a big job but other states are leading the way so let s see the Smart State start to embrace the slogan and catch up. Fast. Posted by Aaron Dwyer of allergysmart.net am today Perhaps all teachers should be req! uired to hold a Senior First Aid certificate if they don t already . Also its my opinion that parents of children or would be parents should allow their children to get dirty and do the things young children of previous generations did making mud pies and other mucky activities etc. This constant desire for cleaniness is laudable but I believe that over protecting children from dirt germs and bugs will in the end make children less resistant to them and more allergic in the long term. Posted by Rosemary of Queensland am today To the Online Editor please include the following in have your say as this issue is currently being discussed by the Gov. over the next few weeks thank you . Reading Queensland schools had students in with Anaphylactic incidences must mean there is some major issue with the current allergy guidelines for Queensland schools. The sooner all teachers carers are adequately trained in first aid allergy management the better for this risk issue needs prompt ! addressing. Possibly a national approach is needed why is one States allergy guidelines training of their teachers and management of allergies in schools better in one State compared to another Queensland should have best practice with regards to this issue for we are one of the last states to fully address this epidemic of students who now have unexplained life threatening allergies. Posted by Concerned of Southside am today Reading Queensland schools had students in with Anaphylactic incidences must mean there is some major issue with the current allergy guidelines for Queensland schools. The sooner all teachers carers are adequately trained in first aid allergy management the better for this risk issue needs prompt addressing. Possibly a national appraoch is needed why is one States allergy guidelines training of their teachers and management of allergies in schools better in one State compared to another Queensland should have best practice with reagrds to this issue for we are one of the last states to fully address this epidemic of stude! nts who now have unexplained life threatening allergies. Posted by Concerned of southside pm August Annie It is better to train teachers to respond properly to anaphylaxis and to refresh this training regularly than to risk the death of children because an epipen was not administered properly or soon enough. Teachers are not any less likely to forget any other first aid training they have had. The proposal is long overdue and action needs to be taken sooner rather than later to get this happening. Teachers may not like having to do this and many say they are not medically trained therefore they should not have to but the fact is Anaphylaxis is an emergency situation. There is not time to wait for a nurse to get there to administer the epipen. It is no more acceptable to send for the nurse and not administer an epipen themselves than it is to have a child unconscious for some other reason and stand by not doing CPR while waiting for the nurse to arrive. Why should Anaphylaxi! s be the only emergency condition where nobody is prepared to administer first aid unless they are nurses. Child care workers are not medically trained but they take on this responsibility and have epipen training as part of their training. Parents of anaphylactic children don t exactly get nursing degrees either. Posted by Kirsten Ralph of pm August I am not sure that it is a good idea to train teachers to deal with health problems. It could be years before they see a child having an anaphylaxis attack and by then they would probably have forgotten what they had learned. There is a real need for nurses to be employed in schools to look after sick children. Nurses are properly trained. Posted by Annie Applepie of am August once again Jane Fynes Clinton has written a brilliant article stating the cold hard facts. Yes Qld is always behind the ball. If such penalties as . will be applied to the schools not following the correct proceedures for our allergy effected children in Victoria NSW with an almighty data base in place to monitor all trainin! g of teachers AND RELIEF TEACHERS. Why has QLD none of the above will it take and god willing i hope it doesn t a fatality for the government to take a long hard look at and follow in the footsteps of the other states For goodness sake I am a mother of a year old with multiple allergies anaphylaxis and i am sending her into our QLD school system next year lets just hope that i dont have to train the teacher or relief teacher And i am not in any way blaming the teachers for there resposibility is tremendous now but this is truely not good enough I am sorry I hope that this comment is read by the health minister and puts himself in our shoes if his child had a life threatening condition would he send them of to school each day knowing that they may not in be safe. Im dont think so . Please QLD lets really get behind this very powerful article and help our ever increasing epedemic of ANAPHYLAXTIC children entering our schools there little voices are yet to be heard. Posted by ! rebecca berry of victoria point am August We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Please provide your full name. We also require a working email address not for publication but for verification. The location field is optional. Read our publication guidelines . Submit your feedback here Full name Email address Location Optional Your comments Remember my details So you don t have to retype your details each time Email me if my comment is published Search for more stories on this topic on Newstext our news archive service. Click here Heading outside Check the UVrating first UVrating first Weather central Everything you need to know about today sweather. 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