summer camps staff need more training in children’s allergies
close to a million Spanish children are allergic
-the SEICAP organizes training workshops for staff and monitors of kitchen and dining room
Madrid, June 2012.- summer camps should consider the needs of allergic childrenin Spain posed between 800,000 and one million children, with staff training and protocols before meals, according to the Spanish society of Clinical Immunology and allergy Pediatric (SEICAP);
Children with food allergy who attend these camps, have to be identified and known by the staff of the dining room and the kitchen, they have to make sure not to mix and make every meal with different tools, they must provide alternatives to the food allergic children can not take and try all eat more or less the same so that no discrimination. In addition the organizing team of these camps must have made a “ Protocol †where an emergency appears, explains Dr. Juan Carlos Cerda, Coordinator of health education of the SEICAP. This plan “ includes especially quickly, since the delay in the response can have fatal consequences â€, says. On the other hand, should have the child reports, have well identified, designate one or more persons who know how to react to a reaction, guarding the emergency medication and know how to manage it in cases where it is necessary.
According to different studies one of every 10 children is asthmatic and 3-8% of the child population is allergic to some food, percentages that increase every year. Fasting who have allergies, even in traces, only in very special cases, may cause reactions such as urticaria, angioedema, asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, digestive symptoms or reactions of anaphylaxis.
“ All care are few †according to Pilar Muñoz, President of the Spanish Association of people with allergies to food and Latex (AEPNAA). In his view, “many children are exposed to the risk of the camp does not make meals under proper conditions, even in many there is a control in transport and food handling”, says. Despite all “ children tend to be vigilant and do not eat anything that should not be â€, says.
Given this lack of information and training, both SEICAP and AEPNAA organized workshops for teachers, monitors and staff of kitchen and dining room. “ Need to know the different types of allergies that can be addressed, the reactions which can be and how should act, because often wait for the doctor is not the solution and its action may be vital â€, explains Dr. Charles Lucas, allergologist Sant Pere Claver Fundació Sanitaria de Barcelona.
Weekend workshops
Allergic children are also trained by the Pediatric allergist. “ They have to know what to do if they begin to notice symptoms, how the medication should be given or when they need a doctor â€, indicates the doctor Cerda. In the communities of Catalonia, Madrid, Castilla – La Mancha, Valencia and Andalusia there are several camps aimed at asthmatic children: “ instead of forming them in the query change them the environment and teach them what is asthma triggers, how is the treatment or inhalation techniques are. He is to provide tools that will help them to better control their disease â€, explains. In the specific case of Valencia, these camps have been simplified in weekend workshops, and “ learning in less time enough so that they can communicate and have fun without problems at a camp for children of all kinds and in their daily lives in general â€, adds.
“For its part, AEPNAA organizes every year a camp for its members who are allergic to latex, and food although “ the ideal would be to have a camp with sufficient attention to children with and without allergies can live together”, explains its President. There are all kinds of activities, including games to learn to live with your disease. “ But the most important thing is that they realize that there are children with your same problem and more easily integrate â€, adds.
