Following an Ombudsman inquiry, staff trained in allergy response; child resumed full-time education
The mother of a five-year-old boy, diagnosed with autism and a life-threatening allergy to milk, who attends a special education kindergarten, contacted our office. She claimed that twice a week she was unable to send her son to the kindergarten out of fear for his health, since on these days only one assistant works in the kindergarten, and according to the mother she does not know how to deal with the allergy.
Children with a life-threatening allergy to food in regular education are likely to be eligible for the allocation of a personal medical assistant, who can examine the food brought to the kindergarten and track any suspicious signs of an outbreak of an allergy attack. She can even inject the child with an EpiPen (a medicine designed for emergency treatment in a life-threatening allergy attack) if, God forbid, this becomes necessary.
Children with an allergy who study in special education frameworks are not eligible for the allocation of a personal assistant, since more assistance hours are allocated for them than for the regular educational frameworks, and the number of children in them is small, and accordingly the educational staff are supposed to supervise the children with the allergy and care for them, even in the event of an allergy attack.
The Ministry of Education's Director General's circular dealing with the activity of the educational institutions and the afternoon frameworks for assuring the health of children with allergies to food products stipulates that before the start of the school year, the institutions are required to hold a meeting on coping with this allergy. The meeting will be attended by employees from the administrative staff of the educational institution and a nurse representing the health services; it is recommended to also invite to the meeting a therapeutic dietician or a dietician on behalf of the authority or the operator and also the parents and if possible, also the student. Likewise, the circular stipulated that the heads of the educational institution or the afternoon framework or anyone on their behalf shall update all the staff of the educational institution and the employees in the afternoon framework regarding the allergy, and they shall ascertain that at the beginning of every year training is given in the matter, including practical experience in the use of a syringe.
Regarding the child the subject of the complaint, the investigation showed that even though the kindergarten staff had been updated regarding the allergy and had participated in the training held by the kindergarten teacher, the training was insufficient since it had not been given by a medical professional and it had not included practical experience in the use of an EpiPen syringe.
Following the inquiry by the Office of the Ombudsman, the kindergarten held a proper training session with medical personnel, including experience in the use of a syringe, and the child returned to full-time studies in the kindergarten.
