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Loudoun schools serve as good example on allergies
Loudoun public schools can serve as a model for others around the country in their flexibility in accommodating students with special dietary needs.
In many communities, parents with children who have food allergies have struggled to get help in keeping their children safe in schools. Putting a child in someone else's hands for the first time is always scary, and it's much more so when a taste or sometimes even the touch of a food can cause a life-threatening reaction.
Food-allergy forums are full of stories from frustrated parents who have had difficulty getting schools to take their children's allergies seriously and come up with a plan to keep them safe.
In Loudoun, though, parents have told the Times-Mirror they have found the schools responsive and caring. School administrators have been open to discussion with parents; training has been prompt; and schools and parents have together come up with safe, workable plans.
Sometimes this means handing out treats like stickers and pencils instead of cookies. Sometimes it means wiping down a table or designating a computer to be free of peanut residue.
The plan varies in each case, but what matters is that it's one everyone can live with.
Word has gotten to at least one national group. Anne Munoz-Furlong, co-founder of the Fairfax-based Food Allergy and Anaphylactic Network, said she has heard good things about Loudoun schools.
In a tight economy, schools are pinched, along with everyone else. Understanding and compassion cost little to nothing, but they make a great deal of difference to the students -- and parents – who deal daily with the fear of dying from traces of a food.
Loudoun Allergy Network is meeting tonight, Wednesday, October 15th from 7:30 - 9:00pm at Loudoun Hospital, conference center. Subject: NAET, an alternative approach to the Management of Allergies. Speaker, Dr. Wichin. Free and open to public. For more info, www.loudounallergynetwork.org
Posted by mhardy
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