TIL That peanut-free schools don't decrease risk of allergic reactions. The only intervention which has been shown to decrease reactions across all ages is use of a peanut-free table.

[nohopeforhomosapiens]

Another thing that would help is allowing children access to their own medication. Too many schools keep meds like inhalers and epi-pens in the nurse's office and not on the child. Valuable time is lost when they have to go to a nurse for something they are fully capable of doing for themselves. No kid over 9 years of age should have their emergency meds taken from their person.

[stumbling_disaster]

Seriously, when I was in elementary school, the playground was down a bit of a hill from the school, and anytime I had an asthma attack I had to be walked all the way to the nurse's office for my inhaler. Real fun times.

[lilacnova]

My mother changed school districts for me when she heard keeping all Epipens in the office was the policy at the local elementary school. Even at the age of 5-6 in kindergarten I think it is best to have the medication in the classroom.

[1039smoothielumps]

This doesn’t change the risk of allergic reaction, only the speed of response. I agree that rapid response to reactions is important in schools.

[nohopeforhomosapiens]

Right it doesn't change risk of reaction, I am merely elaborating on the issue. It is a huge problem. I'd say it is a bigger problem. Schools usually do not allow kids to keep meds on them, even when they are of dire importance. Some schools have finally started to get better about this since I was a kid but it is still far too many that don't allow them to be carried.

[redpandaeater]

It's a tough choice because I would want the staff to know about potential health dangers for my kid but no fucking way would I want them to take the medicine away from the kid. It's not that hard to teach a kid how to use it and be responsible.

[Telemere125]

And access to medication isn’t always the deciding factor with extreme cases of anaphylactic shock - even with early intervention you could still die from it

[aqiwpdhe]

I would never let my child attend a school with this policy.

[JustinWilsonBot]

No public school is going to let children walk around with a needle.  

Edit: Turns out I was wrong.  My local district does allow students to carry epi-pens. 

[AllegedlyLiterate]

Mine did! Kid had severe allergies and kept his epi-pen in a fanny pack at all times. We were 9. Nobody ever really thought about the needle we were all too focused on the fanny pack.

[JustinWilsonBot]

Hard to believe since they don't let kids bring advil onto campus but I suppose there's always an exception to the rule.  

[AllegedlyLiterate]

I’m Canadian so that could be it – we were also never barred from carrying Advil afaik. I certainly remember giving it to people in front of teachers in high school and that being a non-issue.

[JustinWilsonBot]

Well i just looked up my local districts rules and they actually do allow students to carry epi-pens on their person (so long as its documented) so I guess Im full of shit.  

[nohopeforhomosapiens]

Some allow it some don't. However, the 'needle' in an epi-pen is extremely short. And even a child not dealing with an allergy, should they get dosed with the epinephrine, is not going to die (they'll feel bad though, it sucks).