Food allergies don’t have to leave your child in the cold when it comes to summer camp. You can help them stay safe and healthy with a few simple tips. For parents, there are a few questions to ask.

Summer is about having fun and taking a break from school. For parents, it can mean finding a way to entertain their kids. One alternative is summer camp.

Whether your child chooses a day camp or an overnight camp, if they suffer from food allergies you have a valid concern about the safety of the camp. Here are a few questions to ask of the staff and administration of the camp before signing your child up.

Read the rest of this entry »

STAWELL – Skene Street School is selling inspirational wristbands and biros to help raise funds to put the finishing touches on its new facilities.

Since students moved in at the beginning of 2011, more improvements have been taking place.

The surface of the central quadrangle has been completed with a covering of artificial turf, bark chips and a garden bed.

The area is sheltered by colourful shade sails providing outside classroom space for groups to utilise.

Read the rest of this entry »

PHILADELPHIA, June 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Food allergies don’t just cause a rash or a stomach ache. For some, it’s a life-threatening reaction, and that number is on the rise.

Researchers found that 1 in 12 children are affected by some form of food allergy; 40% of those suffering have a history of severe reactions, according to the journal Pediatrics. The study found that the most common food allergies were peanuts, milk and shellfish.

For parents of children with food allergies, just sending their child to school catapults a fury of anxiety: Will the teacher remember? What if they serve snacks? Do the other children understand? What if they get too close to something in the cafeteria lunches? There’s also the added sense of embarrassment for children and especially teenagers suffering food allergies.

Read the rest of this entry »

The number of Australian children with type 1 diabetes is already high by international standards, but the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates the number will jump a further 10 per cent by 2013.

The findings come amid calls for annual kidney screening tests to pick up the early signs of kidney disease helping those with type 2 or adult-onset diabetes.

Australian children to the age of 14 already have an unenviable rate of type 1 diabetes. In 2008, 138 children per 100,000 were counted as having the disease.

AIHW spokeswoman Anne-Marie Waters says the situation is going to get worse.

“We’ve also projected the prevalence to 2013 and predicted that it will rise by about 10 per cent by that time, so the rates we are predicting will actually rise from about 140 cases per 100,000 children to about 153 cases per 100,000 children,” she said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Has your allergic reaction to a medication been properly recorded in your medical records so you are not at risk in future? Health reporter Elspeth McLean has some advice from her own experience of medication that didn’t agree with her.

When you are a health reporter, it is sometimes hard not to be a hypochondriac.

You get to learn a dangerous little about far too many illnesses and, in the middle of the night, it is easy to think any ache or pain is whatever it is you last wrote about.

Death, an urgent hospital trip, or, at the very least, months of debilitating treatment seem imminent. Disease of the week syndrome, I call it. Usually, it is complete nonsense, but in one instance my concern might have been worthwhile.

Read the rest of this entry »