Milk Allergy Study in Babies in Seattle

Milk Allergy study in babies birth to eight months. Please visit http://www.asthmainc.org/ or contact studies@asthmainc.org

From Blogger Pictures

WAFEAST presents Halloween Carnival

Lots of food-free fun planned for Saturday October 29, 2011!
Games, prizes, contests and more!
Join us 1:00-4:00 PM at the Montlake Community Center
1618 E Calhoun Street, Seattle, WA 98112



From WAFEAST Events
Contact leader@wafeast.org

Back to school tips – Plan! Plan! Plan!

As children, we all remember having butterflies at the end of the summer as our parents prodded us to pick out lunch boxes and try on new clothes. As parents of food allergic children, we may feel those butterflies return, as we think about turning over responsibility of our children’s well being to school staff. If we aren’t careful, our anxiety can spill over and increase the butterflies that our kids are feeling as a natural part of returning to or starting school. While seeking out a therapist in anxiety management may be something to consider, much can be achieved via good planning. There are several vehicles for planning for accommodating food allergic students in the school setting, including the Individualized Health Plan (IHP) and 504 Plan, in some cases they are one in the same.
· Emergency action plan. This plan is developed in conjunction with the school nurse and is based on written prescription orders from your child’s physician. This plan describes the symptoms of anaphylaxis that your child may exhibit and instructs staff about what actions to take in the event of a food allergy emergency. If you are in a state where nurses are not allowed to delegate judgment authority to staff, you may find that the staff will be advocating that all reactions are treated with epinephrine.
· Risk reduction plan. This plan informs school staff about how to AVOID having to implement the Emergency Action Plan. The goal is to address as many plausible risky situations as possible and contingencies for unanticipated situations. The topics you might address here include what allergens are allowed in the room for parties and snacks, review any food used in class projects or science kits, assess potential risks associated with field trips,
· Inclusiveness plan. This plan addresses steps to be taken by the school and staff to avoid exclusion of your food allergic child and can layer on top of a risk reduction plan, but in some ways I think it is beneficial to think of it as a separate exercise. Many parents supply safe snacks/treats for their food allergic children. However, due to the fact that this is a “separate but equal approach,” more and more parents are requesting that all celebrations and snacks be inclusive. This can be achieved by implementing non-food rewards and celebrations and, if food is allowed, only food listed on an approved snack/party list is used.
Where to start? See if your state has food allergy guidelines in place. If not, guidelines from other states can be very useful. Finally, there are many 504 planning resources on the web. For more info, check out http://www.foodallergy.org/.
Kelly Morgan

Workplace Food Allergies Taskforce

On Saturday, August 27th at 10:30 am Christina and I will be meeting at the Bellevue Library to hash out the beginnings of a pamphlet advising workplaces on how best to handle employees with food allergies, as well as some best practices for employees with food allergies.

If you have food allergies and are in the workforce, please join us, or e-mail us what has worked (and not worked) for you. What are some challenges you've faced?
If you know of someone struggling with food allergies in the workplace, we'd love to hear from them.
Kids just entering the workplace who have questions - we'd like to know what those questions are.
Also - if you or someone you know work in Human Resources or are lawyers with experience in ADA cases, we need some expert backup as we move down the line here.

We would like to create a pamphlet (or pamphlets) that is useful to WA-FEAST, FAI, FAAN, HR departments, supervisors, and employees alike. If you know of work already done in this area, we'd love to use that too.

Thanks, Alice
www.SafeAndYummy.com

Next Mariner's peanut-controlled-zone game Thursday July 14

Hope you all had a fun and safe 4th of July! With the holiday behind us I just realized that our next Mariners game is only a week away. Go to www.mariners.com/nopeanuts to order your tickets now. Game is on Thursday, July 14th vs. Texas Rangers. It's the first game after the All-Star break.


Let's recap. Earlier in the season I said that it was true the Mariners were not very good, but we should go support them anyway. Well, heck, they have been playing much better now and are even in the race for first place. So let's really get out there and support them. Their pitching has been out of this world. Maybe we can all go and fire up their offense with our cheering.

And for our last Rainiers game I said it would be your last chance to see Dustin Ackley close up before he got called up to the Mariners. Well, they were a little more anxious than expected and Mr. Ackley got called up just prior to our Raininers game. So now is your chance to see him play in the big leagues.

And let's not kid ourselves. The weather at our first couple of games wasn't the best. But man has it been nice lately. The kids are out of school now, so come on out and enjoy a nice evening at the ballpark.

One important item of note I wanted to mention as well. My main contact with the Mariners, Bob Hellinger, has suffered a pretty serious medical issue and has been in the hospital for a while. He may not return to his work this season while he recovers. I was planning on making a get well sign to hold up at the game and thought other folks may want to do the same. We really did well with signs our first couple of games a few years back, but that has sort of died down. So let's bring that action back. Make get well signs for Bob, make thank you signs for the Mariners, and make garlic fry signs as well.

Basically, let's get out there, buy lots of tickets for our section to show our support for their efforts and then really show it during the game as well. Hope to see lots of you at the ballpark again! Have a great weekend.
Michael San Soucie

Tree Nut Allergy Research in Seattle

Benaroya Research Institute of Virginia Mason is seeking adults for food allergy research.

From Blogger Pictures

Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) is looking for severely tree nut allergic and/or peanut allergic individuals to donate their blood and answer a questionnaire about their allergy history. If you have a severe tree nut allergy, please consider helping BRI’s team of world-renowned scientists identify causes and cures for immune-mediated diseases, such as allergies.If interested, please contact the Allergy Translational Research Coordinator:

Jennifer Heaton
(206)342-6971
jheaton@benaroyaresearch.org

From Blogger Pictures

Benaroya Research Institute Receives $5.3 Million for Allergy Studies
SEATTLE, Wash. - (Feb. 18, 2008) – Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) recently received a $5.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for William Kwok, PhD, and his team to further research allergens.
Dr. Kwok and David Robinson, MD, of the Virginia Mason Asthma and Allergy Clinic, will work together to study immune response to environmental allergens. The scientists will use tetramers to identify and study cells from individuals who are allergic to cat dander, tree and grass pollen, peanuts, mold and others.

Allergies are prevalent in many people’s lives. It is estimated that about 25 percent of the population has allergies based on positive skin test results. About 36 million Americans suffer from allergic rhinitis, 10 million Americans suffer from allergic asthma, and 2 to 4 percent of children and 1 to 2 percent of adults have food allergies.

Tetramers can specifically identify the piece of the allergen molecule (peptide) that a person reacts with. This allows for safer ways to monitor and desensitize patients to allergies. The hope is that this work can lead to an understanding of the role certain cells play in allergies. It is intended that the cells being studied can regulate immune responses that lead to allergic reaction.Currently allergy shots, given to increase people’s tolerance for a particular allergen, contain the whole allergen to reduce the symptoms of allergy. In some cases, the shots may cause life threatening symptoms such as anaphylactic shock and low blood pressure. This research work will lead to development of vaccines that use a small fragment of the allergen (peptide) which will be much safer compared to the whole allergen. It may be able to change the immune system’s tolerance for the allergy without using the actual allergen.

“The long term hope is that the peptides will be more specific with fewer side effects than giving shots with the whole allergen,” says Dr. Kwok. “We would like to develop a more individualized, specific treatment that will reduce any risks using the whole allergen.”

“This grant gives us an opportunity to make a significant difference for people who suffer from allergies and elevate their options for care – yet another great example of how we’re taking research from the bench at BRI to the bedside at Virginia Mason,” said Dr. Robinson.

Dr. Robinson continued, “From a basic science standpoint, being able to identify what the T-cell recognizes in the allergen is a fundamental step in the allergic immune response that we have not been able to define before. This will potentially allow researchers to tease apart fine details of the allergic immune response and this could lead to other treatment approaches that have not yet even been conceived.”

About Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia MasonBenaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI), founded in 1956, works to unlock the mysteries of the immune system. Its team of world-renowned scientists is focused on identifying causes and cures for devastating diseases including diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. BRI is an international leader in immune system and autoimmune disease research with a focus on translating laboratory discoveries to real-life applications.

Peanut Controlled Section @ Seattle Mariner's June 4th Game!

This weekend the Seattle Mariner's are offering another peanut controlled seating section! It is our day game for all of you with younger children. And the Mariners are playing some AWESOME baseball right now. It is also suppose to be really nice out! What more could you ask for?

So what are you waiting for? Go online right now to www.mariners.com/nopeanuts and order your tickets for this Saturday's game. It starts at 1:10pm. It should be a great day at the park vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.

Hope to see lots of you there so we can show the Mariners that it is worth all their extra time and effort they put into these events for us. They really do go out of their way. Go Mariners!

Michael San Soucie

Deadline to purchase Friday June 3rd at noon.