Lately there have been quite a few articles about food allergies in the news. My friend from college who I hadn’t heard from in over a year sent me an article the other day on the allergy studies being done for peanuts. I guess there are some people who will always remember my allergies and think of me!
There have been articles lately about Northwest and Delta serving peanuts on their flights and the outrage this has caused (mostly in MN), articles about the peanut studies being done, and about the prevalence of food allergies and the growing numbers of children being diagnosed. These are the main topics I have seen over the past few weeks. One article I read this morning caught my eye as I was about to leave for work.
The article is from NorwalkPlus.com, a Connecticut news website, and is about a bill being introduced to create uniform guidelines for schools to manage food allergies in schools. It is something parents should be aware of. It is called the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act of 2009. You can check out the article at: http://www.norwalkplus.com/nwk/information/nwsnwk/publish/News_1/Dodd-Alexander-Lowey-introduce-bill-to-protect-children-with-food-allergies3249.shtml
Yesterday I was out with another teacher at recess. She told me that a new student was joining her class next week. “He has a peanut allergy. I’ve never had a student with one of those before,” she said to me. I told her I had anaphylactic allergies to many foods, including peanuts (I’m new to this school and many people don’t know about my allergies). Then some students were arguing and she had to run over to them, and then it was time to go inside, and I didn’t get a chance to talk to her about it anymore. I want to tell her to ask me if she has any questions about food allergies. Many of the teachers seem pretty unaware of allergies. This is a big concern to me! Teachers really need to be educated. As someone in this field, I feel like it is especially important that there is more education and awareness for teachers. If they know how to handle food allergies then they don’t have to be worried about having “one of them” in their classroom.
