Am I missing something? (re: Latex Allergy)

[BlueTaelon]

I just got a call from the school confirming dd7 had a latex allergy which no she doesn't, thats dd12. I'm a little baffled as to why they are asking as the entire facility from K to 12th is latex free with big ol signs on the front doors. Well... are you ready for the level of stupidity?

 

Today is "Fun Day" as tomorrow is the last day of school and the kids are outside playing games all day. Anyway! An outside company brought in balloons for a balloon toss game, LATEX balloons which are BANNED inside the school presumably because there is a kid with a severe latex allergy (were pretty new so I don't know who's allergic to what). I pointed that out and how I would be furious if it was MY KID that had that level of a latex allergy that required the entire school to be latex free.

 

Their response? "oh! But they will be outside!" and "there's nothing we can really do about it because its an outside company that brought them in."

 

Well its pretty simple in my mind, you tell the company NO! and find another activity or have someone run back into town and buy non latex balloons. The kids are going to get latex residue all over the place when they go back inside and contaminate the entire school making it unsafe for that kid not to mention the popped balloons that will be all over outside contaminating the school.

 

The level of stupidity is astounding, it makes me want to go pick up my kids out of fear they would do something equally as dumb using peanuts. Its mind boggling and whats worse is the school secretary who called me is a retired nurse and her grandson who attends the school has a severe peanut allergy so its not like she's unaware of allergies.

 

Please tell me I'm not alone is my shock over the schools handling of this? It seems like a blatant disregard for this kids life, I hope the poor kid will not be at school today or tomorrow and that the mom rips them a new one.

[Mandylubug]

I agree. Stupid. But you can't fix stupid. If I was a parent of a child with a life threatening severe allergy I would have to find a way for them to be home with me. I know not everyone has that capability but this instance just proves you can't prevent others from exposing your child.

[happi duck]

Sadly, I can imagine no one thinking through the latex issue.

 

I knew a teacher who knew a student was allergic to peanut butter and thought nothing of bringing in peanuts. The child was okay and the dad rightfully bawled out the teacher.

 

The teacher thought it was okay because "peanuts and peanut butter aren't the same thing."

[dirty ethel rackham]

Beyond stupid. I am amazed at the lack of critical thinking among adults. We ran into a similar issue last week. Our 4H group went to a local forest preserve to help clean up the creek. We have been doing this anually. One mom is allergic to latex. She asked if the gloves we were given were latex-free. The box said they were. Lo and behold, someone had stuffed a bunch of latex gloves in with the latex-free gloves in the same box. We had to insist that they get a fresh, unopened box for this mom.

[Chris in VA]

They should be watching potatoes, too. There is little-known research suggesting a connection or co-occuring allergy with latex/potato.

[Arcadia]

It is a school event. The school is still liable to a lawsuit. The school should have informed the outside company to bring in only latex free balloons.

 

They should be watching potatoes, too. There is little-known research suggesting a connection or co-occuring allergy with latex/potato.

 

 

I've been told Bananas are not to be offered to someone with latex allergy because of potential cross reaction. This list is copied from NY health dept

"apples, bananas, kiwi, peaches, plums, figs, grapes, melons, papaya, passion fruit, cherries, nectarines, pears, pineapple and strawberries;

carrots, celery, raw potatoes, avocados and tomatoes;

chestnuts and hazelnuts;

wheat and rye."

[joannqn]

I'm not surprised. Even when you educate people about it, they don't change anything unless it affects them or their kids. And even then they sometimes don't take the precautions they should.

[Dana]

After my son's biphasic anaphylaxis to cashews, we decided to homeschool. He also has a severe dairy allergy.

This situation has lawsuit written all over it.

[Loowit]

It is things like this that make me so happy I have the choice to homeschool my son with anaphylactic allergies. This kind of stuff infuriates me. I understand that there is always some risk whenever we go anywhere, even places that are "safe". However, I expect that adults would do more to make sure that kids are kept safe, especially when they know there is a problem.

[Eagle]

This is one of our reasons for homeschooling. There is no way I could grant someone that level of trust to ensure ds was safe.

[Slartibartfast]

It is sad about latex because it often affects children who have had lifelong medical issues.

 

I don't know why people are so ignorant about allergies. I don't think I could trust a school either if my child had a serious allergy but sadly many families do not have that luxury. Dd attended school for a time and there were several allergies in her class, three kids had epi pens.

[Tap]

Honestly, yes you may be missing something.

 

Do you know if the child is going to be there for the event? Maybe the school has already told the family, especially since they were attempting to call you to confirm an allergy.for the event.

 

You said you don't know the child....is the child coming back next year? Is contamination even a concern?

 

 

Yes, sometimes those in charge of making decisions are not fully aware of the ramifications of an allergy. I have seen that many times! and don't mean to argue the point

......And sometimes, they just know more about the situation than the general public does.

 

 

 

 

~Tap

(former *stupid* school employee, who is fully aware of anaphylatic allergic reactions)