Food Field Trip Update/would appreciate your input here!

[eggallergymom]

I have a meeting in two weeks to discuss changes to my daughter's upcoming class field trip to a pioneer lodge. The lodge is a one-room building, it's a daylong field trip, and one of the central activities is preparing and cooking a meal that includes eggy dishes. I talked to my daughter's allergist and he was adamant that the trip would not be safe for her for a number of reasons: She can't handle eggs, of course, she shouldn't be around foods that are being cooked with egg in them, and the lodge is 40 minutes away from the children's hospital where she'd be treated if she were to anaphylax. He said that for her, given her history of reactions and most recent bloodwork (which stunk), she shouldn't go. I shared his concerns with her principal and the rest of her 504 team, and they do seem open to suggestion. They're not making any promises, but they said they want to work with us. But the more I think about what I could propose, the less comfortable I feel about the food element of this trip. Because of the potential for cross-contamination, even if I were to bring boxes of egg replacer for the other menu items, I'd need to supply mixing bowls, baking dishes and pans, as well as utensils, serving spoons, etc. Is that something I should offer to do? Three classes will be there at once, so that's 75-ish children. That's a lot of dishes and utensils.  How far would you go to preserve the food element of a field trip like this? Do I lobby for the removal of food altogether? The bottom line for me is that she has to be safe. I don't want to keep her at home that day, I think that's wrong on so many levels, particularly since this is a day of school, tied in to their curriculum, etc. What would you all ask for in this meeting? Thanks!!

[yelloww]

Me, I'd pick my battles. This can backfire in that she can be kept at school with a days' worth of worksheets tied to the curriculum, which is not going to be fun for her. But the school would be keeping her safe and she'd be learning the curriculum- that's likely the route they will take with this.

Don't offer to provide stuff for 75 children. That is too messy and complicated. And it will put you in the position of having to do it again down the road for some other trip.

If it were ME, I'd likely lobby for pulling her out of school that day, but have it not count against her attendance, and taking her yourself on some sort of field trip that ties to the curriculum. That way, she's not sitting at school doing worksheets. (unless you are ok with that as an option for her) Perhaps she can do some report on your field trip as evidence of learning for the school.

I pulled ds out of elem school every Halloween bc I didn't want to deal with the food fest and we'd do a field trip of some sorts. It counted against his attendance, but that wasn't important to me. Having him not in school that day was my goal and we always had such fun doing our own thing that day (a lot of times we flew to GA to visit my dad when the Halloween parties were on a Friday or a Monday).

[twinturbo]

Call the pioneer lodge. Don't signal to the school you're doing it--yet.

Call, talk to someone in charge ask if you can stick to bread, cheese, whole fruits, canning, making a pie (sans eggs), heck, for DD she can even do nuts, right? But get it straight from whomever is responsible for the pioneer lodge.

It won't be safe for her to consume but lowered risk to be around. At that point you could tackle who is the adult(s) assigned to her medical detail. But first feel it out all for eggs ANYWHERE there including a hen house maybe they farm eggs there or who knows. If it were me I'd make a run out there in person. I'd also use Google maps to locate the nearest fire stations, noting total number and distance.

I'm guessing this is somewhere west of the Adirondacks/Appalachains? Because east of that we do the pilgrim thing not pioneer.

[eggallergymom]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions. I have already mapped it out and it's 20 minutes from the nearest firehouse, though that firehouse serves two townships, so I am not sure I'd rely on them being there or being particularly close. We would be 30-40 minutes from our children's hospital, depending on traffic.  I would be there with a bonanza of Epi pens and her inhaler, but being more than two Epis away, potentially, worries me.

They don't have a farm there, this is literally just a lodge/rental facility owned by the town. I've seen pictures of the event last year and all of the kids were in the same room, with different corners of the room dedicated to the different activities. The food station was set up on long tables that bisected the room. They prepare several different dishes.  We discussed the field trip briefly at our 504 planning meeting at the start of the school year and they didn't have a lot of specifics, but the school nurse said that in years past, the kids have gotten to grind corn to make some sort of cornbread that included eggs, as well as some sort of baked pudding that included eggs. Of course, eggy pudding. 

I also neglected to mention that the PTO is a co-sponsor of the event. Yep, the PTO is involved in planning a part of the curriculum. The PTO hierarchy (matriarchy?)  features many women who fought passionately against the food policy changes in our district three years ago. Two of them led a letter-writing campaign, which was fascinatingly anachronistic. I've already told the school principal that I do not want the PTO involved in any way in the discussion we'll have about possible changes. The last thing I need are the cupcake ladies getting their righteous indignation on when it comes to Pioneer Day. But they would be there, leading all of the activities.

Oh, and yes, we're west of the Adirondacks, so this is pioneers as opposed to pilgrims. Though I am still skeptical that many pioneers got to eat beef stew and baked goods on a regular basis.

Thanks for your great suggestions, as always! I will call the lodge tomorrow to see what I can find out about the food. The nuclear option, of course, is that she just doesn't go. And thanks for the warning about the worksheets! I could see that happening here. Nope, we'd do something else in the pioneer spirit that day, I suppose. Though I hate to have her miss an entire day of school.

[twinturbo]

Right, so calling direct gets you past the gatekeepers. I think that will be most telling and possibly (in this case) the most responsive. The school and PTO are too emo about this.

EAmom, when talking to the lodge program manager can you ask for specific street address or coordinates? Something tangible to pipe in to EMS if needed? Otherwise your cell signal slings off the nearest tower for your location. Also inquire if there's a landline on premise. The landline would be more identifiable to location efforts.

If I had to I'd look at a halfway point to meet EMS like book it to the nearest fire station manned at that time after meds administration. They can't override dispatch to transport someone showing up at the door but they will call in themselves to dispatch and stabilize a patient until transport arrives. BTDT when my youngest anaphylaxed next to a fire station which are normal parts of my activity planning. Sad but that's our life.

Of course I'd never advocate veering from your dr's EAP, so FWIW.

[eggallergymom]

TT, your response made me realize just how lucky we'd been with my DD in terms of her reactions. When it happened at school, the nurse Epi'd my DD and called the paramedics and they were there two minutes later. We arrived at Children's fifteen minutes after that, just as the first Epi was wearing off. With her reactions prior to that, I was able to Epi her and get her to the closest ER, which is four minutes from our house. What you've described is more complex. So this is my rookie, kid's-always-ana'd-near-a-hospital question. What can the paramedics do to stabilize the child long enough to get them to the ER? Do they carry epinephrine? Would they start an IV, or would they administer another one of her Epi pens and treat any asthma symptoms? I guess I should call the fire department and ask how they'd handle that situation, given the location of this place? 

[twinturbo]

Well, some of what I say was info I came by through job training and function prior to FA, most of it is useless but some is applicable. Anyhow, it would be smart to email someone at FD that could give you the nitty gritty details. Email makes it more convenient for them to answer and gives you a record of answer. Make sure of who is able to administer pediatric epinephrine in your state.

Regarding IV, if you tell them she's had biphasic before I can almost guarantee they'll IV her in the truck. What adjunctive? I'm not sure beyond IV Benadryl, oxygen, but they can measure the internal stuff like BP, O2 sat.

[yelloww]

We've been in remote places before (40 min down a windy road to the hospital). The allergist gave us a rx for the liquid steroids that would be used in the ER with dosage that would be equivalent to what is used in the Hospital too.

Basically, the dr's orders for those trips are  Epi, call 911, and pour liquid steroids down his throat to buy enough time to get to the hospital...With the assumption of a second Epi in the ambulance if need be.... It used to be that we live, not all ambulances have crews who can administer. They get around it by wrapping the patients hand around the Epi so that the patient is technically self administer. I'm not sure how it is now for that though.

Anyway, if we are not in a metro area, we have liquid steroids with us to use after the Epi. I'm grateful I haven't needed to use them.

[Macabre]

Oh the PTO. You meant cupcake queens right?  Not ladies. No, not ladies.

[Mfamom]

funny how when the PTO gets involved in things the food comes flying out! 
I wouldnot be comfortable with this trip, would likely take my child out of school with letter of understanding and language about exclusion etc.

[eggallergymom]

I just got off the phone with the fire captain, who was really nice. Long story short, they can't guarantee a response time under 15 minutes. Best case scenario, they could be there in ten minutes. But if both squads are on another call, or there's a housefire somewhere (they respond as far as two towns away), then it could be longer before they'd get there. They do carry IV epinephrine, benadryl, oxygen, all of the monitors they'd need to watch her BP and breathing, etc, but he said that he thinks people need to understand that he can't guarantee a response time because there are too many variables. So there it is. I'm calling the principal now. I figured it would be nice to let them know now, rather than wait until the meeting.

[Macabre]

Well, that seals the deal, doesn't it?  I bet you can come up with en equally awesome field trip.

This should not count as an absence.

[eggallergymom]

Well, the principal was very nice and floated several ideas, none of which would work because of cross-contamination or because it would mean effectively putting a big "FA" on my kid's chest for the duration of the field trip. I take her at her word that they only want what's best for my daughter, I really do think she's sincere about that and she sure as hell was a lot more cooperative than the principal I had to deal with after the ana episode, but she did say that this year there will be several children who can't participate in the cooking element of the field trip because of either food allergies or cultural issues. So why do it, then? Why continue with an activity that is unsafe/unfair to several kids in the grade? The answer, of course, is that because they've ALWAYS done it that way, that it's a time-honored tradition in the district, yada yada. Yuck. The principal agreed that one option would be for us to keep her at home and do our own pioneer lesson, so that's what we'll do. 

[GingerPye]

That is so sad. 

Yes, I would make a great big ol' FUN pioneer lesson for your child.  Is there another place you could visit that would have a similar pioneer theme?

Invite those other FA kids to do it with you, lol. 

[twinturbo]

Meaning principal is scared of PTO which gives not a fig about cultural or medical issues.

Maybe the others are interested in dedicating that day to learning about first peoples both then and now.