Questions to ask on peanut butter allergy

[linders]

Need input from those with experience.

 

I will be the leader-in-charge when our Boy Scout troop goes to summer camp. We have a new scout, Q, 11 years old, who just bridged up to the troop from Cub Scouts. At a planning meeting last night, his dad (who is not going) casually mentioned that Q has a moderate peanut butter allergy. Anaphylactic on ingestion, but not on incidental contact (e.g., the doorknob the last pb-eating scout touched is okay). "But don't worry, he carries 2 epi pens, so if he has a reaction, just give him one then get him to the hospital." And maybe an adult should sit by him at meals. Q has never gone away to camp before.

 

I started plotting the quickest route to the hospital  :sad:. Camp has about 1,000 boys who eat not only at the dining hall but at the Trading Post and in campsites. Not to mention that they haul snacks to all their classes. And once the new kids know the layout of camp, they typically are not chaperoned at all times, they can wander freely over the 2,000 acres as long as they are with a buddy.

 

So...what questions to ask the dad? What questions to ask the camp director? What precautions to take? I know I need to call the camp and find out if they can even provide pb-free food. (I'm thinking not - they may ask for him to bring his own food for the week.)

 

Thanks.

[mermo]

I would think the camp has a policy and procedures already in place.

Is there a nurse at the camp? I would ask the father to borrow the epi pen trainer and information so you can become familiar with it.

My 11 year old is allergic to peanuts and is very good about reading labels and skipping foods he is not sure are safe. He has been to several camps - each had a very detailed allergy protocol & tables for eating where peanut foods were not allowed.

[QueenCat]

Contact the camp director asap. They've dealt with this before...... you need to know their policies before you can promise the dad anything.

[JFSinIL]

I agree, with that many boys at an annual event, they most likely already have policies in place to deal with nut allergies and keep every Scout healthy and safe.  An 11-year-old will know by now what to eat/not eat and when to use his epipen. Just need to make sure the adults at camp know to NOT  insist on carrying it for him - he has to have it on his person at all times.  We had problems when my son, about that age, needed to carry little foil packets of Zomig, which he had to take the instance he realized a migraine was starting in order for the medicine to do its work.  The adult Scouts insisted they had to carry all meds...then at two different events John had bad migraines, could not get his Zomig in time, (the adult who carried the Zomig was not at hand)  and ended up once spending the night ill and miserable in the back of an adult Scout's car, another time he had to be carried back to the campsite from a hike, nauseous and miserable. 

 

This reminds me how when he went to high school it was very difficult getting the school to let him carry a Zomig on his person...until he ended up reporting to the nurse already in the throes of a bad migraine (by the time a teacher let him leave the room and walk to the nurse it was already too late) a couple times and Nurse insisted he be allowed to carry one. She kept the rest in her office, and son was still to report to her.  But he could take the pill as soon as he needed then get to the nurse to lie down and chill until the Zomig kicked in.  It still took a couple hours for him to feel better, but w/o Zomig he'd lose a full day or more.  Better a bad headache for a couple hors than a full migraine for 24.

 

Edited March 31, 2016 by JFSinIL

[Lanny]

One of the most serious food allergies that exists and it can be fatal. There is an Extra I have seen (when viewers in the USA are getting commercials) with an Allergist that discusses this allergy.  Some kids grow out of this allergy with time.    I saw that Extra 1 or 2 days ago when watching the evening news from the USA.

[Sandragood1]

As I recall, each epi is good to cover the person for 15 minutes in cases of severe reaction. That's why two are prescribed. If the camp is more than 30 minutes from ER or EMT with epi, the boy should take more than two.