New online course helps educators to keep allergic kids safe at school

New online course helps educators to keep allergic kids safe at school

allergyawareAnaphylaxis Canada has launched a new online course to help teachers, administrators and educational staff to keep allergic students safe at school.

Anaphylaxis in Schools: What Educators Need to Know is a free, bilingual resource available to schools across the country. The course incorporates graphics, audio narration, practice scenarios, and step-by-step visual guides to help educators prevent and manage emergency situations at school.

This course is the first in a series of three anaphylaxis training programs developed in collaboration with Leap Learning Technologies Inc. and the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI), with support from AllerGen NCE and McMaster University. Additional courses targeted to members of the community, including parents, caregivers, childcare centres and the general public will be released in 2015.

The prevalence and incidence of allergy and anaphylaxis are on the rise in Canada. In 2012, a nationwide study found that about 2.5 million Canadians, or one in every 13 people, self-report a significant food allergy. Many people with food allergies are not properly diagnosed, and a food allergy that could cause anaphylaxis—a sudden, life-threatening reaction—can develop at any time in life.