ID Tags for Allergies

by Kelley Lindberg


As my son has gotten older and has started attending school and participating in sports, I realized that there were times when I wouldn’t be with him, and that means other adults will have to know how to help him if he has a food allergy reaction.

I dutifully talked to all of his teachers and his coaches, taught them how to use the EpiPens and what to watch for. Then one day I was looking at all 25 backpacks hanging on hooks in his classroom, and wondered to myself, “How will the teacher know which of these 25 backpacks has his medicine in it?”

My solution? I went online and found a site that makes luggage tags with photos on one side, and contact info on the other.

A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Douglas Jones of Rocky Mountain Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology in Layton, showed me a similar type of tag he’s created for all of his food allergy patients (and an asthma version for his asthma patients), because the same worry had occurred to him.

So I wanted to share these ideas with you. I put a tag on my son’s lunch box, his backpack, and his soccer bag, so that the teacher or coach can find it immediately in the pile of other bags.

Dr. Jones’ tags have a pocket that contains a card with complete information about the type of medicine to administer, instructions for administering it, and contact information. A neon sticker on the outside of the tag grabs your attention.

The luggage tags I ordered didn’t have room for such complete information, so I list my son’s name, allergies, type of medicine, and contact phone numbers. Then, inside the pouch that contains his medicine, I have a laminated card with more complete emergency information on one side, and general information about how to recognize and respond to a food allergy emergency on the other.

 

If your kids are in school or in sports, you might want to consider creating an ID tag for their bags for the same reason. The easier we can make it for someone else to find our kids’ medicine and emergency information, the faster the response will be.

If you have a similar idea for ID tags, will you share it with us? Thanks!