Seven-year-old girl dies of peanut allergy at school...

[caregiver1977]

I got this from abcnew.go.com. I am a substitute teacher and I have 3 children in public school. This is why I would not send my child to a regular school if they had serious/fatal food allergies. Schools cannot function as hospitals. Schools can barely handle behavior problems and teach kids at the same time. Regular schools do not have the resources to watch what a child puts in their mouth every minute of the day.

I am sorry if someone has already posted this...

[h=3]Allergic Girl Who Died at School Got Peanut From Another Child[/h]

Ammaria Johnson, the 7-year-old Virginia girl who died after an allergic reaction at school, was given a peanut by another child unaware of her allergy, police said.

Johnson ate the peanut on the playground of her Chesterfield County elementary school, Hopkins Elementary, during recess. After noticing hives and shortness of breath, she approached a teacher and was taken to the school clinic. A clinic aid was trying to help her when she stopped breathing, according to police.

"When emergency crews arrived, she was already in cardiac arrest in the clinic," Lt. Jason Elmore, a spokesman for the Chesterfield County Fire Department, told ABC News.

An investigation by Chesterfield police concluded that Johnson died from cardiac arrest and anaphylaxis, and that no crime or criminal negligence was committed by the child who shared the peanut, school personnel or Johnson's mother. ...

...Johnson's death raised questions about how schools and parents should handle severe allergies. Experts say Johnson could have been saved by an EpiPen -- a device that injects epinephrine to reverse the symptoms of anaphylaxis, currently available only by prescription. But Hopkins Elementary had no such device on hand for Johnson. ...

[PattyB RN]

It's heartbreaking when a preventable tragedy happens. I am a school nurse in Connecticut. In my district, we have a standing order to administer epinephrine to anyone exhibiting signs/symptoms of anaphylaxis. Also, upon registering for school, all parents must fill out a health form. If a life threatening allegery is noted, an Epi-pen must be on hand at school for an emergency. If the parents do not comply, an immediate referral is made to our State Department of Children & Families and action is swift. Needless to say, every child identified with any life threatening allergy (bee sting, nut, latex etc.) has both an Epi pen and diphenhydramine on hand as well as orders to call 911,transported to the hospital where the child will be observed for several more hours. If an allergy has not been identified, our standing order for epinephrine will allow us to administer the life saving shot if necessary; minutes matter when dealing with anaphylaxis. There is no reason to exclude a child from any school. Parents need to disclose information and be responsible for providing for them. Schools also need to be proactive; for not every life threatening allergy is known ahead of time. A life threatening allergy can develop at any time so it behooves school systems to have professional, registered nurses at each school to ensure the safety of the students as well as staff members as well as standing orders (and medication) such as epinephrine.

My prayers go out to the family for their loss. Hopefully, this little girl's story will prompt action and her little life may save many, many others.

[PattyB RN]

To answer Flare...would I use another child's epi-pen to save the life of a student who doesn't have one? Yes. Without hesitation...as long as it was the proper dose (Epi-pen jr for a smaller person) and if was boxed & labeled from the pharmacy. How could anyone stand by and watch another human being die? Fortunately for me, I have my own epinephrine to draw up for use in an emergency if the child does not have an epi-pen of their own...which all my students have. It's the unknown that we have to be prepared for; the unknown allergy, the unknown severe asthma attack. I know if I did use someone else's epi-pen to save a life I open myself up to legal action but I would go to bed with a clear conscious knowing I saved a life. That's why I became a nurse. That may be why I was put on this earth..you never know.

[PattyB RN]

I also work in a large urban school district. We have many students with life threatening peanut allergies. When the discussion turns to abolishing peanuts (shellfish is not an issue, we're too poor for that) we, the nurses, were the ones to point out :If you abolish peanuts/treenuts, who is going to police the large student body for peanuts? Not the nurses! It would have to be the teachers who see the students all day and at lunch. And I'll tell you right now, the teachers are NOT going to be on board with taking the responsibility! You cannot expect a large population to comply with a no peanut/treenut policy. Besides, there are peanuts/treenuts in many items that one would never even suspect. I can see the district ban peanuts/treenuts from their lunches (the ones the school makes) but not from lunches provided for by parents from home. It does infringe on non-allergic persons civil liberties to deny them of a food item that they enjoy. So if a school bans all pea/tree nuts and an exposure happens, who will be liable? I wouldn't want to be the school district in that case. They would have to prove who it was that was responsible for "monitoring" all of the students. Good luck with that! Being prepared, informed, educated and ready for situations is the way to be in my opinion.

[caregiver1977]

we, the nurses, were the ones to point out :If you abolish peanuts/treenuts, who is going to police the large student body for peanuts? Not the nurses! It would have to be the teachers who see the students all day and at lunch. And I'll tell you right now, the teachers are NOT going to be on board with taking the responsibility!

Good for you nurses for speaking up! Not only are the teachers or anyone else in the schools not going to be on board with taking the responsibility, they really can't if they wanted to. If the teachers in your district are anything like the ones I work with, their hands are already full with managing behavior problems, teaching new materials, and trying desperately to keep the students from forgeting what they already know. Then add standardized tests into the mix (the results of these test carry a lot of weight for the schools, they are even published in the newspaper). I don't know who would have time to police such a ban. What would the schools do? Hire security guards to ramble through lunches and pat the kids down?

In my school district, if a child had a serious, serious peanut (or other food) allergy, a CNA or medical assistant from the agency the school district has a contract with would probably be hired to accompany this child throughout the school day. I am sure this health professional would be the one to keep the child's Epi-pen and assist if this is a problem. I am still too new at the school I work with to know what they do in this specfic case.

[PattyB RN]

Caregive 1977..I'm not sure where you practice, but it's always a good idea to know your school's policy before something happens. I work in CT and we follow the state of CT guidelines for life threatening food allergies. It was stated very clearly that the elimination of any food item that is considered "life threatening" would be ill advised. The point being that if a district tells parents that the school is in fact peanut free, someone had better be responsible for enforcing the rule. It also impinges on the majority of the students' civil liberties as they might enjoy a pb&j (or whatever the allergen is) and they should not have to be deprived. I think the best approach is to informed and prepared. I have 10 students with peanut allergies, one with a latex allergy, and 2 with bee sting allergies. I require an epi-pen and benadryl for each student and plan co-signed by their PCP. I ask the parents how they feel about a peanut-free table in the cafeteria. At this point (I'm in mddle school now) all of the parents are against a "special " table. Instead, we focus on educating the child (and by middle school they know how to look @ ingredients), they are aware of the signs and symptoms of the onset of anaphylaxis,and we inform and educate the staff, teachers, paras and cafeteria staff.Our districts' nutritionist has also removed any peanut containing foods from menus and has provided all of our schools with a detailed analysis of every single item offered by the schools from main courses to side dishes to snacks and juices. I have taught many teachers how to administer the epi-pen if needed (for field trips and after school activities), but the pen is always kept in my office. We have a very good system and so far in my 11 years I haven't encountered a problem.

I can't imagine the school district hiring a CNA or med. tech to shadow a student all day. What a horrible job that would be! Good luck in your school nurse career. It can be very rewarding.

[caregiver1977]

I would like to correct something, because I don't want to misrepresent myself on this forum. At the moment I am a substitute teaching assistant. Very soon I will be a teaching assistant at a public elementary school in my district that specializes in educating health fragile, mentally and physically disabled children. Most children at my school are "normal" (whatever that means nowadays) but some students are having a good day if they can just hold a cookie.

My school district has a contract with a nursing agency. There are several students at my school who have a nurse or medical assistant who accompanies them throughout the day. Some of these students are severely autistic, need assistance walking, have spinal cord injuries, etc. There is one class I know of that has a medical assistant and a CNA for two kids in the class. These health professionals from the agency assist with toileting, feeding, and administering medications. I have talked to some of them, and they say they like it because they only have one patient.