Indoor Air Quality Coordinator - Another Hat

This morning I received training from the Indiana State Department of Health on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ).  There is a new law out that affects schools, and I was appointed the IAQ Coordinator for Southern Hancock Schools, so I needed to go and see how the new law would affect our operations.

No upholstered furniture in classrooms, no home carpeting, no stuffed animals.  No furry, feathered or reptilian animals without an educational purpose.  Small fish bowls are OK, but not large aquariums.  No scented candles, air fresheners, or diffusers.  Some teachers will need to make some major changes.

Nearly 10% of all children have asthma, which can be triggered by strong smells and animal dander.  Nearly 10% of all adults have asthma as well.  A couple of years ago we had a teacher with asthma who had an attack brought on by the scented candle of a colleague.  She had forgotten her inhaler, and an ambulance had to be called.

I myself have asthma, so this hits home.  I'll be looking over the info will and see what our course of action as a school corporation will be.  It will almost certainly involve creating new board policies.

I'm going to need a hat tree.

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Some Schools Don't Let Kids Carry Asthma Inhalers

Erie, PA
Although all 50 states have laws that allow children with asthma to carry inhalers at school and 48 states have laws that let youngsters carry epinephrine pens for serious allergies, experts say that some kids are still being denied access to these lifesaving medications during the school day.

"Every school district handles this a little bit different, and for those who don't allow children to carry their medications, I think may be due to a lack of knowledge. School officials may not appreciate the risk that having epinephrine pens and inhalers in a locked office, instead of with the child, can pose," said Maureen George, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.

"Fewer than 200 children die each year from asthma in the U.S. That number is low, but those deaths are preventable. And it's a double tragedy when you lose a child to a preventable condition. And, some of those deaths happen in schools," she said.