Another Food Allergy Tragedy: Ammaria Johnson

There are many posts out there already in the Food Allergy community about a tragedy involving a peanut allergy that happened only yesterday in Richmond Virginia.  I won’t rehash the details, but I would like to provide some links to articles that are worth reading:

• Food Allergy Daily | Peanut allergic 7 year old child dies at school
• Loudon Allergy Network | 7 Year Old Richmond, Virginia Girl Dies of Allergic Reaction [Link updated 01/06/2012]
• Multiple Food Allergy Help | Dear Parents,
• WTVR | Family: Child dies in school from peanut allergic reaction (They apparently ignored an in-place “allergy action plan” which is not only infuriating, but an entirely different issue altogether.)
• Fredericksburg.com | Fatal Food Allergies

I felt the need to post because we obviously need to reach beyond the Food Allergy community.  If you’re reading this, I ask you to reblog, repost, tweet, +1, post your thoughts about the situation, repost one or all of the above articles, tell your friends and neighbors… use social media and good old fashioned word of mouth to spread the word.

This issue is bigger than the bullying, bigger than the politics, bigger than “my kid needs his peanut butter sandwich”.

SCHOOLS NEED TO HAVE EPI-PENS ON SITE, AND NURSES, TEACHERS, STAFF MUST BE PERMITTED TO ADMINISTER THEM.

There is no longer an excuse for anything getting in the way of this.  This is not a single isolated incident kind of thing any longer.

From WTVR:

“She has an allergy action plan at the school,” said Pendleton, which authorizes the school to give her Benadryl during a reaction. “They didn’t do that,” she said.

At the beginning of this school year, the mother said she tried to give the clinical aid an Epipen for emergencies, but she was declined and told to keep it at home.

According to Chesterfield County School policy parents are supposed to provide the school medication for children with allergies.

This is unacceptable.

Write to your senator now.  Write all of your elected officials frequently.  Ask them to endorse a bill like this, or any bill that comes up on the issue.

Administering a dose of epinephrine is not a 100% guaranteed life-saver, but imagine if lifeguards in school pools were asked not to administer CPR for drowning children?  We sure as hell need to do something.

If it’s your thing, please pray for the family, the teachers, students, emergency responders, and medical staff involved.

What are you waiting for?  Read those articles, & re-post now!

Epi-Pen

Related articles

• A Guide to Shellfish Allergies (everydayhealth.com)
• Food Allergies in the Air (sprinklesandallergies.wordpress.com)
• Is Your Child’s Food Allergy Testing Right? (everydayhealth.com)
• Separate is indeed not equal! Food allergies & bullying. |-o-| (aixelsyd13.wordpress.com)
• Seafood Allergies: Fact vs. Fiction (everydayhealth.com)
• Ask Dr. K: Fish, shellfish allergies can appear later in life (goerie.com)
• The year in review (2011) (lynnawiensmd.com)
• Why are nut allergies so dangerous? (greenanswers.com)
• EpiPen cap warning issued by distributor (cbc.ca)
• Meat Allergy: A New Concern (everydayhealth.com)