Food Allergies and School Buses: Finding a Safe Balance
Several parents have called to find out what they can do to keep their child safe on the school bus, particularly when the bus driver will not or cannot administer epinephrine.
There are no hard and fast rules about what a school bus driver must do regarding epinephrine administration. It is up to parents and school personnel to work out these details. However, there are thousands of food-allergic children who safely ride the bus each day to and from school. Below are some of the accommodations that have been made.
- Making sure the bus driver knows the allergic child, their food allergy and symptoms that they may suffer during a reaction.
- Ensuring that the bus driver knows to call 911 or other emergency numbers and request an Advanced Life Support Unit if a reaction occurs. (This is especially important in states where only paramedics are allowed to carry epinephrine.)
- Providing the bus driver with a cellular phone for use in the event of an emergency.
- Having the food-allergic child sit in the front seat near the driver.
- Enforcing a "no food on the bus" policy.
- Allowing a responsible child to carry his or her own self-injectable epinephrine (EpiPen® or EpiPen® Jr. or Twinject®) in his/her backpack.
- Having an aide or other adult ride the bus and keep an eye on the food-allergic child.
- Implementing an epinephrine handoff system. Some parents pass the epinephrine to the driver who gives it to the school nurse once the bus arrives at school. The process is reversed for the ride home in the afternoon. CAUTION NOTE: Due to the number of handoffs and people involved in this process, there is a greater risk of leaving the epinephrine either at school or on the bus.
- Having the child ride the special needs bus to and from school.
Q: What is the best way to educate the bus driver about food allergy?
A: The best way to educate your child's bus driver about food allergy is to include the bus drivers in the staff training that you or the school nurse give to other school personnel regarding food allergy. This way bus drivers gets all the relevant information and feels like they are part of the team that is helping to keep your child and all other children safe during the ride to and from school.
Q: What if, after all my efforts to make the bus driver aware of my child's allergy, I am still not comfortable with him or her riding the bus?
A: Some parents decide to drive their children to school or to form a car pool with a small number of children in their neighborhood.
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