Planning Safe Summer Camp Fun for Kids With Allergies & Asthma

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Final up to date on April 14, 2024.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

SATURDAY, April 13, 2023 — Getting ready a child for summer season camp is already a frightening job, and it’s much more difficult in case your little one has allergy symptoms or bronchial asthma, consultants say.

“Children with allergy symptoms and bronchial asthma want an additional layer of safety once they head off to summer season camp,” stated allergist Dr. Gailen Marshall Jr., president of the American Faculty of Allergy, Bronchial asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

“You need them to have as a lot enjoyable as each different child at camp, however as a way to do this, sure techniques have to be in place, and precautions have to be taken to lock down a symptom-free expertise,” Marshall stated in an ACAAI information launch.

To that finish, the ACAAI affords a handful of suggestions to assist your camper have a fun-filled summer season with few worries about their allergy symptoms or bronchial asthma:

Contemplate a specialty camp. Many camps focus solely on youngsters with bronchial asthma or meals allergy symptoms. These camps present specialised medical workers educated to deal with allergic ailments. When you’re involved a daily camp may not be totally ready to deal with your little one’s situation, this could be the best choice.

Pack sensible. Go to your little one’s allergist and ensure prescriptions for allergy meds and bronchial asthma inhalers are updated and match their present peak and weight. Additionally ship your child off with a ample provide of epinephrine auto-injectors in case they’ve extreme allergic reactions to meals or insect stings.

Counsel the advisors. Ensure that your child’s camp counselors know methods to deal with potential medical emergencies, together with methods to retailer and use epinephrine auto injectors and bronchial asthma inhalers. The advisors additionally ought to know when to name 911, the placement of the closest hospital and the quickest route there. Additionally temporary the advisors in your little one’s medicine and the way it’s used.

Place their order. Ensure that the camp counselors and kitchen workers are conscious of your little one’s meals allergy symptoms, and make sure there aren’t any areas of the kitchen the place cross-contamination can happen. Remind your little one it’s okay to let different folks learn about their allergy, and that it’s by no means okay to eat different folks’s meals.

The itchy and scratchy present. A rash from poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac is a type of pores and skin allergy, however take consolation that few folks undergo a extreme allergic response from these camp nuisances. Calamine lotion might help soothe such a rash, however your little one most likely will want a visit to the camp nurse or physician in the event that they brush up in opposition to certainly one of these crops.

Sources

American Faculty of Allergy, Bronchial asthma and Immunology, information launch, April 11, 2024

Disclaimer: Statistical knowledge in medical articles present normal developments and don’t pertain to people. Particular person elements can fluctuate significantly. All the time search customized medical recommendation for particular person healthcare choices.

Posted April 2024