http://www.boston.com/dailynews/253/nation/_Schools_Dangerous_For_Student:.shtml

Schools Dangerous For Students With Asthma Says Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics

U.S.Newswire, 9/10/2001 11:52

To: National Desk, Education Reporter

Contact: Sharon Ifft of Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of

Asthmatics, 703-641-9595, x113

FAIRFAX, Va., Sept. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- America's schools are danger zones for the nearly 5 million children who have asthma. Every year, children die of attacks occurring at school -- on the football field, during fitness testing, in the hallway going to the school clinic, and in the clinic where no nurse was on duty.

Chalk dust, classroom pets, physical education classes, or poor indoor air quality trigger miserable and sometimes life-threatening symptoms. Asthma kills 15 people each day and causes more than 10 million missed school days per year. Yet many schools do not allow students to carry inhalers and teachers and school officials do not know how to properly handle asthma attacks.

So what can parents do to ensure their children will have a safe and healthy school year? Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) encourages parents to be proactive in the first few weeks of school with this plan of action:

-- Give the school a copy of the child's allergy and asthma management plan including a list of medications and the allergens and/or irritants that trigger the child's symptoms.

-- Meet with the child's principal, teachers, coaches, cafeteria workers, and school nurse (if the school has one) to explain the child's health needs, triggers, warning signs, medications, and emergency treatments.

-- Make sure all of the child's school health forms are complete and include emergency phone numbers for relatives and physicians.

AANMA created Asthma and Allergies at School, a tool kit that helps bridge the communication gap between parents, physicians, teachers, and school administrators. It offers creative solutions for dealing with asthma in the classroom and gives parents the tools to educate and inform their child's school staff about the seriousness of the condition. Asthma and Allergies at School is available through AANMA at www.aanma.org.

''Schools are dangerous places for kids with asthma,'' says AANMA President Nancy Sander. ''So AANMA is helping parents and school officials work together to make our school environments safe and healthy.''

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Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating suffering and death due to asthma and allergies through education, advocacy, community outreach, and research. Founded in 1985, AANMA publishes a magazine and newsletter, and offers a toll-free help line, educational books and videos, and a Web site (www.aanma.org).

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2001

Answers

A little girl died during an asthma attack in our big-city school system a few years ago. The teacher said the little girl just fell over and died. The kids in the classroom told their parents that the little girl asked repeatedly for permission to go to the nurse's office to use her inhaler, and the teacher kept telling her to sit down and shut up.

The teacher may have been transferred, possibly fired, but she was not prosecuted.

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2001

That doesn't surprise me, Helen, and it pisses me off. There was a teacher at one of the schools my son went to who had on her desk a mini-TV so she could keep up with her "stories." God forbid anyone interrupted at a crucial point, you know, maybe to ask to see the nurse or something inconsequential--ha!

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2001