Maggie - Teen blog

Here is a blog post by Maggie, our volunteer! We are very grateful for having such a bright girl in our office! Keep an eye out for more teen blogs to come :)

Hey there Facebook and blog followers! 

My name is Maggie and I am more like you than you might think! :)

Like you, I am a person living with an allergy. I’m a 4+ out of 5 and allergic to peanuts/nuts. I came to Allergy New Zealand for my service for Duke of Edinburgh and was overwhelmed by the knowledge and skill the people here have.

Back in 2010, on the first day of the Christmas holidays I experienced something that I had never in my life experienced before. 
My Mum was having some chocolates out of the favourites box and I asked if I could have one (don’t know what I was thinking). My Mum said yes and gave me a white chocolate. Five minutes later my Mum came in to find one of the eyes swollen shut and the other one almost shut. I do admit when my Mum first said that I needed the EpiPen I was scared, so scared that I started running around the house screaming. But once my Mum gave it to me I didn’t feel a thing. 

I later spent 9 hours at the hospital!

When we were standing outside waiting for a taxi, some ladies stopped us and told us that we had just won a spot prize! Mum and I thought we were just getting a Ipod or phone but we ended but getting a 32ich flat screen tv!!! The thing that sucks the most about that is that I didn’t even get it !!! When it was me who was in hospital and choose the taxi (to me that makes no sense).

A little more about me: I go to Epsom Girls Grammar and so far I have not had any trouble with getting into different groups and doing all the stuff that I want to do. So far at EGGS I have been involved in

-          Soccer

-          Cycling

-          Duke of Ed

-          Art

-          Sport caption for my class

But I plan on doing so much more so watch this space!

So what I’m trying to tell you is that your allergy shouldn’t shape you, it shouldn’t make you stop what you love doing. I know that allergies sucks but it makes you who you are and trust me, I wouldn’t change my allergy for the world (well maybe not as high as 4+, now that truly sucks). 

Always have a smile on your face even when things are hard!

If you want to ask me any questions feel free to leave a comment below!

Maggie

Allergy New Zealand in the community: Shanti Charitable Trust

This week Penny Jorgensen, our CEO, held two education seminars at the Shanti Niwas Charitable Trust community support group in Onehunga.

Shanti Niwas Charitable Trust, which was founded in 1994, is a non-profit organisation with a proud history of working with socially isolated senior citizens of Indian and South Asian origin living in the Auckland region.

Included in the charity’s many services is the promotion of health and safety which has initiated visits from various organisations from the community.

Allergy New Zealand was invited to talk on March 26 and 27, with around 100 people attending the two sessions.

Project Manager, Nilima Venkant said these programmes are important as it allows people to make their own informed decisions about their health and take the information back to their extended families.

She said there was a lot of interest in the topic and that the partnership with Allergy New Zealand would be ongoing.

“We already have names down of people who would like further contact with Allergy New Zealand so there may be more programmes to come.”

Penny Jorgensen also said there was a positive feedback from the talk.

“These types of seminars help educate and inform a wider community about the severity of allergies. Many people came forward who either themselves had food or medicine allergies, or had grandchildren with allergies.

Shanti Niwas Charitable Trust also has an elder abuse and neglect prevention service where they provide those who have been abused or neglected with support, counselling and advocacy.

Free anaphylaxis e-training for the community (ASCIA)

As most families know, when your child has severe allergies it is difficult to keep them safe when you are not around.

It can be very daunting to leave your child’s life in the hands of others, whether it be the staff at school, friend’s parents or even other family members.

Yes, you may have told them about the allergies and how severe they are, but do they take it seriously and know what to do in case of a reaction? We have had some families tell us about the difficulties of getting even grandparents to understand.

All this can be very overwhelming for families as people are generally uneducated about allergies and how to treat them.

We also know that there are many people in the community who are willing to help, and just want to know what to do.

A new resource has just become available that might help. This is a FREE anaphylaxis e-training for first aid (community). It was created by the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) to be undertaken by the broader community such as parents, friends, carers, patients, workplace or student colleagues and club members.

It is simple and easy to do if you have access to the internet. People are able to take part in the free course and gain a printable certificate of completion with their own name and mark.

This means that you can step aside and point those around your child towards the online course, which will help them understand allergies and how to take action in the case of a severe allergic reaction.

It will not only give you a piece of mind but it will give your family confidence to let your child go to play with friends, stay with extended family, or go on camps and sleepovers.

You or others can sign up for the course here by clicking on "anaphylaxis first aid" at bottom of page, to begin the course.

ASCIA also has online training for school staff and health professionals.

Give us feedback

Let us know how the course went and get a discussion going. Do you think this course is a good idea? Did you enjoy it? Was it difficult? If so what about it? Was it easier/harder than you expected? Who else would you like us to recommend this course to? Did it help your family? Do you feel better knowing others around you took this course?

Anaphylaxis 

 

Want more information about anaphylaxis? Visit our website here where you can find many helpful resources.