summer camps and allergies

A US study suggests that, though camps will accept 🧒 children with allergies, most are not prepared to act if something happens as often they don’t have or request individualized action plans.

🏕It seemed camps that had faced anaphylactic events in previous years were better trained and able to recognize it than others who didn’t.
Despite that, one-third of camp leaders did not think most staff would be able to act appropriately.

Though this study was not done in the UK, I would suggest👫 parents need to be aware of the possibility of the same happening in summer camps here or any other country where they might send their children to.

⚠️The main lessons to take from this study are:
🔹️Enquire if the staff at the summer camp is trained to deal with allergic conditions, mainly anaphylaxis.
🔹️See what policies and emergency measures they have in place, e.g. contacts for local ambulance service, GP or Hospital.
🔹️Provide action plans specifically for your child. If you don’t have one, ask your Paediatric Allergist to provide a BSACI action plan.
🔹️See if your child’s medication did not expire and take them to the camp, in a clearly marked container, potentially with a photo of your child outside it.
🔹️You don’t stand to lose anything by asking if the food your child is allergic to is excluded from the camp, and other children cannot bring it with them there.

🏫As more and more nurseries/schools are becoming nuts free, it would not be a bad idea for summer camps to follow suit.

(Many Summer Camps Unprepared for Allergic Campers - Medscape - Dec 10, 2019)

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