Food Allergy News: It's Time to Draft Your Food Allergy Emergency Action Plan

At this time of year, I'm often asked about the best ways to keep kids with food allergies safe and healthy at school. Have I got a document for you: the Food Allergy Emergency Action Plan. This document, which explains symptoms and specific actions to take in a food allergy emergency, is crucial to supply at school. You should also have one of these at home, displayed somewhere were you and any other caregivers can easily find it. It's a wonderful document to have no matter where you are -- but it's a school must-have.

You can download a free copy of this important form from The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network website. This is the form I use year after year; my allergist loves it and said it's the best one out there.

The Food Allergy Emergency Action Plan can be provided as part of your child's IHP (Individual Health Plan, that is, a health plan you create with school health officials and administrators and sign off on) or 504 Plan (legal document created to protect severely allergic students.)

The Food Allergy Emergency Action Plan is completed by your doctor and distributed to key school staff, along with any supporting documents such as medication forms or other required doctor's notes.

If your child ever suffers from a reaction at school, this form is a great go-to in terms of helping teachers or staff know what steps to take. Our teachers and school staff have always really appreciated having us present them with this form because it spells out everything they need to know in an allergic emergency.

From personal experience, I have a few more tips about this form:

- Present the FAEAP on brightly colored or neon paper so that it's easy to spot.

- Be sure to provide a photo of your child in the space provided. (Save a school photo from the previous year and use it on the form.)

- Have  a new FAEAP completed each year and dated for the current school year. Most schools require this to be renewed each year.

- Make note of any medication changes--for example, depending on weight gain and growth, your child may now require a regular dose of epinephrine, not the "jr." version. Your form should reflect this.

- Our daughter's teachers have kept a copy of the Food Allergy Emergency Action Plan in the classroom with them where they can see it. One teacher had it taped to her desk, but any easy access area is good. You want substitutes to have access, too.

Back to school with a food allergy can be stressful, but the Food Allergy Emergency Action Plan has always provided me with greater peace of mind. Download yours now!

It's Food Allergy Action Plan Time!

This post is a reprise of one I did this time last year. It's an important piece of the back-to-school puzzle, so here it is: key info for new readers and a reminder for the rest of us!

Many of us are getting our paperwork ready for back to school, or for a lot of us our child's first year of school--the big K--kindergarten. Even a seasoned food allergy parent like me gets a little queasy just thinking about what can go wrong at school. What helps me feel a lot, lot more in control is having a current copy of my daughter's Food Allergy Action Plan on file at the school office.

Do you have your Food Allergy Action Plan ready yet? Here is a link if you need a copy, available from the FAAN website.

The action plan will show the school staff every symptom to look for and action to take in the event of a reaction. I know that schools use these--we've had a reaction at school and the school health aide followed it to the letter. Although Benadryl was enough, without the dose of Benadryl, who knows? Bottom line: you may need this so make sure you feel certain that it's complete and accurate.

Make sure that your doctor fills out the form completely and that they include any special info needed. For example, does your child have asthma? Other health conditions? The form provides space for all of these. This form from FAAN is very clear and easy to read--my doctor said it was the best one he ever saw!

Here are a few other tips for a successful Food Allergy Action Plan:

- Print it on neon colored paper so that it's easy to spot in the event of an emergency.

- Be sure to include a current photo of your child--I usually use last year's school yearbook photo--so that substitutes and other staff visually recognize your child.

- Make sure the form is complete before submitting it and include a post-it with your phone number that offers to answer any questions about your child and their allergy.

You have time left before school starts so get this form into your allergists now--why wait? You'll beat the mad rush at the end of the month.

Time for the Food Allergy Action Plan!

Many of us are getting our paperwork ready for back to school, or for a lot of us our child's first year of school--the big K--kindergarten. Even a seasoned food allergy parent like me gets a little queasy just thinking about what can go wrong at school. What helps me feel a lot, lot more in control is having a current copy of my daughter's Food Allergy Action Plan on file at the school office.

Do you have your Food Allergy Action Plan ready yet? Here is a link if you need a copy, available from the FAAN website.

The action plan will show the school staff every symptom to look for and action to take in the event of a reaction. I know that schools use these--we had a false alarm in 2nd grade and the school health aide followed it to the letter. In the end there was no need for medication--but they wouldn't have known this without the emergency action plan.

Make sure that your doctor fills out the form completely and that they include any special info needed. For example, does your child have asthma? Other health conditions? The form provides space for all of these. This form from FAAN is very clear and easy to read--my doctor said it was the best one he ever saw!

Here are a few other tips for a successful Food Allergy Action Plan:

- Print it on neon colored paper so that it's easy to spot in the event of an emergency.

- Be sure to include a current photo of your child--I usually use last year's school yearbook photo--so that substitutes and other staff recognize your child as the one with the allergy.

- Make sure the form is complete before submitting it and include a post-it with your phone number that offers to answer any questions about your child and their allergy.

You have time left before school starts so get this form into your allergists now--why wait? You'll beat the mad rush at the end of the month.