Nuts

America’s favorite kid food can spell death for some, By Laurie Gordon Next to baseball, hot dogs and apple pie, nothing’s more “American” than a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But not for Brendan Brennan. If the four-year-old Vernon boy were to take a bite of a PB and J sandwich or eat a peanut, he could die of anaphylactic shock. According to Peanut Aware, a national group dedicated to providing a resource for peanut allergy sufferers, approximately 6 million children in North America alone have a nut allergy. “One child with a nut allergy can affect the way an entire school, or town is run. Essentially millions and millions of people are affected by this allergy - every day.” To this end, Brendan’s mother, Amy Brennan, is on a mission to get her son’s school, a public primary school in Vernon called Walnut Ridge, and eventually the entire Vernon School District, to follow in the footsteps of schools across the United States and Canada and take the necessary steps to make the district “peanut free.” “I would like the district to ban it [make the schools peanut free],“ she said, “And I do not want to have to do this at every school my son attends, and in Vernon they switch schools five times ending up in the high school.“ Brendan will go from Walnut Ridge to Cedar Mountain to Lousberry Hollow to Glen Meadow then finally Vernon Township High School. “I feel it should be a district ban not just one school.” Brennan, who also has three other children who are not allergic to peanuts, said, “In our district they managed to take all the snacks and vending machines out of the schools because they were unhealthy but yet we have to fight to get something that can kill our children out, it is amazing.” Thus far, Vernon Township School District’s Superintendent, Anthony J. Macerino, has said that regarding the peanut issue, the district is “ in the information gathering stage.” He added, “The school district already has a policy and guidelines regarding Anaphylaxis to Food which involves parents notifying the school district, food service and school nurse, etc.” In the case of students with food allergies, measures that the parents feel are appropriate are put in place such as having the students eat lunch at a “peanut free” table. “Also,” said Macerino, “Particularly important at the lower grades, the school nurse is responsible for informing school personnel, including classroom teachers, of student allergies. In turn, classroom parents, responsible for bringing in snacks for various celebrations, etc., are likewise informed and understand the importance of not serving any item containing peanuts, as an example.” As far as going through parents for support of her mission, Brennan has met with some support but also some adversity. For instance, one parent, who has a child at Walnut Ridge, responded to Brennan’s e-mail to parents stating that a peanut awareness group was being formed and that petitions were ready to be signed to ban all peanuts in the school with, “To eliminate even 99% of the products that will trigger an allergy attack will be quite time consuming. And more likely not even possible. There is not any possible way that you will be able to discover everything with a peanut or nut oil. Many people, including myself, wear lotions everyday with these products.” The parent went on to say, “Instead of using valuable time that should be used on educating our children wouldn’t it make more sense to take the time to safeguard your child. If you’re worried about people not knowing, then you need to write letters and call everyone that would have contact with your child, teachers, and support staff alike and make sure they’re aware of this allergy. Your child should be given food from home rather than expecting teachers and other parents to keep your child from these foods. Your child should be wearing gloves to keep from oils being transferred to his skin or if your child is that severely allergic, he should be kept from the public schools and put into a home school environment where you will be able to monitor him 100%.” Others agree, feeling it’s a lot of time and expense to accommodate just a few children with the allergy. After all, peanut butter is certainly cheap, nutritious, popular and traditional. Kathy Dodsen also lives in Vernon, and her four-year-old her daughter, Nicole, is in a private pre-school called The Children’s School. Like Brendan Brennan, Nicole has a severe peanut allergy, but unlike Amy Brennan, Dodsen has met with a lot of cooperation at Nicole’s private school. Nicole’s classroom is now peanut free, and the school sent letters to all the parents alerting them that there was a child in the school with a severe peanut allergy. The path Dodsen has been following regarding her daughter’s allergy is “one of education,” and she and her family are active members of FAAN, the national Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Established in 1991, FAAN’s membership now stands at close to 30,000 worldwide and includes families, dietitians, nurses, physicians, school staff, representatives from government agencies, and the food and pharmaceutical industries. FAAN’s mission is to “raise public awareness, to provide advocacy and education, and to advance research on behalf of all those affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis.” Last weekend, the Dodsens joined the second annual FAAN walk for awareness in Ridgewood. They collected donations and made T-shirts signifying them as “our own little Nicole team.” When Nicole Dodsen enters the Vernon public school system, it’s Kathy Dodsen’s hope for the school to be peanut free, but, she said, “I think it’s going to have to be something they [the school district] come up with on their own” rather than something that happens because of what they construe as “pushy parents.” As for the cost to make the school system peanut free, Dodsen said, “It can be expensive, but what’s the cost of a human life?” Dodsen added, “If anything else comes out of this, I’m hoping for more awareness. We’re not pushy parents, we just want our kids to be safe.” Though Dodsen said a peanut free school system is her “optimum goal,” she’ll be happy if Nicole can have her medication with her wherever she goes. “I don’t think they allow it on school busses and it’s my biggest fear that she’s sitting on a bus with a little friend who has a left over pb and j.” Dodsen added “The Vernon ambulance squad doesn’t carry epi-pens.” Starting with Massachusetts, in 1993, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network says on its web site, “The majority of states have laws/regulations in place that allow students to possess (and potentially self-administer) their prescribed epinephrine during the school day, provided that certain conditions (such as parental, physician, school nurse, and local school board consent) are met.” New Jersey is not in this majority, but Bills (A 961 / S 79), are still being considered. In New Jersey there’s a real mix. Several schools don’t have any peanut bans, others have partial bans and some, such as the Hoboken School District and South Brunswick School district, consider themselves “peanut free. South Brunswick district said,” Beginning with this, the 2006-2007 school year, Chartwells School Dining Services, the Food Service provider for the South Brunswick Schools, will not serve peanuts, peanut-based products or foods prepared with peanut-based products in any of their cafeterias. They added, “For some students, peanut exposure/consumption can be fatal. By eliminating peanuts and peanut-based products from our lunch program, South Brunswick School District will continue its commitment as a partner in providing a safe environment for all students.” If the Vernon School District decides to go peanut free, Macerino said South Brunswick may be a model they’ll examine. “It is our understanding that South Brunswick’s food service (cafeteria contractor) may have agreed to go “peanut free” which would take care of the sale of peanut related items or additives, however, students and staff may still bring in peanut related items to consume on their own.” South Brunswick’s web site outlining their peanut policy states, “It is important to note that this action in no way limits any parent from providing their youngster with a ‘packed’ lunch containing peanuts, peanut butter or other peanut-based products.” In taking the pulse of Sussex County and its surrounding areas, it seems that many schools have some sort of peanut allergy policy, but in some cases, that policy might be can be a little elusive. A nurse at Lenape Valley Regional High School said there was a policy, but wasn’t sure exactly what it was, and as of press time, she hadn‘t gotten back to us. In Stillwater, the Stillwater School nurse, Maureen Beckman, said, “We have two policies that relate to food allergies. We have a self administration policy and a policy allowing epi-pen delegation. We do not have a specific food allergy policy. Individual emergency health care plans are written for students with food allergies and a potential for anaphylaxis.” In Stanhope, Valley Road School principal, Greg Hobaugh said they are a peanut free school. Kids can bring a lunch containing peanuts or peanut butter, but “our cafeteria can not serve peanut containing foods.” The school has peanut free tables and the school’s Family Consumer Science Project is forbidden from using peanut products. In Sparta, Reverend George A. Brown Memorial School, school nurse Mary Lou Rafferty said, “We aren’t peanut free, but there’s a whole protocol in place when we have a child with a peanut allergy.” This includes posting a picture of a large peanut by a classroom where a child with an allergy is during special parties, designating a table where allergic kids eat within the classroom (there is no cafeteria), and having all kids in the class thoroughly wash their hands. Sparta Middle school nurse, Colleen Ashley, said there are policies in place but they cover all allergies in general as opposed to specifically being for peanut allergies. Just over the boarder, in Milford, Pennsylvania, Connie Kaden, Executive Secretary to Delaware Valley School District’s Superintendent, Dr. Candis M. Finan, said, “I don’t believe there is a policy,” but said if there was one, it would be on the district’s web site at www.dvsd.org. Nothing came up in our query. In Middletown, N.Y., Patrisha Sullivan, family nurse practitioner for the Middletown School District said, “When we have a student with a food allergy, including a peanut allergy - we obtain a history from the parents about symptoms the child has when they come in contact with the allergen. We obtain the necessary medications and prescriptions from the child’s primary health care provider (usually Epipen, benedryl). The school nurse will write a care plan for the food allergy and shares the information with the classroom teacher, food services, etc. Parents have always been great with getting us everything we need at school. Food Services limits any peanuts, peanut oil, etc. in their food preparation. We also have “stock Epipen” in the nurse’s office with standing orders in the very unusual, but emergency situation where a child will have an allergic reaction to a food - and this allergy had not yet been diagnosed.” The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services’ Center for Health Statistics issued a 2006 Health Data Fact Sheet that states that “The number of children with peanut allergy doubled in a five-year period between 1997 and 2002.” Slowly, the New Jersey government is addressing issues surrounding peanut and other allergies. In 2004, the New Jersey Legislature passed a resolution which urges school districts to acquaint personnel with the dangers of peanut allergy and to establish peanut-free cafeteria areas. In 2005, a bill was signed into law in New Jersey which calls for the creation of a public information campaign, known as “Ask Before You Eat,” designed to inform the public about food allergies and anaphylaxis. The new law also calls for the creation of a fact sheet on nut allergies, which will be distributed to local boards of health, local health officers, and restaurants. So far, the country’s largest public school system, the New York City public school system, hasn’t really been affected by “the peanut phenomenon,” but that’s about to change if FAAN has anything to say about it. FAAN is partnering with the New York Statewide School Health Services Center (SSHSC) to obtain valuable information from NY school nurses on the incidence of anaphylaxis in schools; circumstances surrounding anaphylactic events in schools; and practices and methods used for managing students at risk for anaphylaxis. Returning to Vernon, Macerino said, “The information gathering stage will include speaking with districts that are ‘peanut free.’” He also said, “The board’s ‘Community Relations/Student Matters’ committee will be meeting with a parent in order to discuss the peanut allergy matter further. The above meeting will help to educate yet another group regarding the severity of allergies as well as to help address specific concerns that the parent may have.” He did not identify that parent. Furthermore, Macerino said, “Going ‘peanut free’ with our food service contractor would involve an addendum to the contract and I am uncertain as to the implications of that. We will be meeting with the food service vendor (Sodexho) in the coming days to discuss the matter.” Macerino ended his comments on the subject with, “The district has enrolled students with significant allergies, including peanut allergies, in the past. The number one safety guard to dealing with the above is education and sharing information with appropriate personnel and students. The above is particularly necessary at the lower grades, although someone may be impacted by such allergies when at an older age, students become more responsible and aware of what may be harmful to them as they grow older. At the lower grades, parents, school personnel and students have been and remain aware of the dangers of significant allergies. However, educating the educational community further, with accurate information, will enhance student and employee safety and build respect for the medical conditions of others—a very important aspect of educating the whole child.” Macerino said he feels, “Allergies are a very significant medical condition to deal with and raising awareness of everyone about such items and how they can help to keep others with allergies safe, is a “win” for everyone.” As for Amy Brennan, she said her next step is an up-coming meeting with several Vernon Board of Education members as well as Macerino, to “discuss what is going to be done.“ She plans to go in armed with her son’s allergist, Dr. Jeffrey Weiss, at her side.“ I think [having him there] will help to show a professional with real statistics.”