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Action Plan for Allergic Reaction

G

Gordon Seto

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Aug 20, 2006
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I saw this post in another Forum about allergic reaction in turning.
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbth...=&Number=3831674&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o
Allergic reaction towards exotic wood is common, therefore when our Club holds the hands-on classes for our members and YMCA campers, we choose cherry or maple. Mis-identifying a found wood is possible.

My concern is how best to handle when someone, especially a young camper has a life threatening allergic reaction, such as swollen neck and can't breathe.

Our workshop is inside a camp ground, sometimes we don't get a good cell phone signal. It is not that we have a good street address that the ambulance can locate us immediately.

I understand we shouldn't play doctor, but don't want to regret "we should have done that" either. What we should do after calling 911? Bring him/her out for fresh air, sit up or lay down? ....

How safe and what is the liability of us having Benadryl in the first aid kit?
 
It might be better for you focus your efforts on prevention. Good safety gear and clean work areas with adequate ventilation should go a long way towards preventing life threatening reactions resulting from breathing or ingesting toxic materials.

The person with the reaction in the link you posted was working in closed basement with no dust mask or respirator. Even maple or cherry might be a problem for someone in those conditions if the wood is spalted and they are senstive to fungus / mold.

Ed
 
Camp

What organization sponsors the camp? Check with them. They probably have a procedure in place. They may have a physician on some type of advisory panel. That could get you a good recommendation. They should lead on their campers.

If they wish to advise you on Club members, great. As a club you may choose to apply the same protocol to members as campers. You may wish to provide a different protocol.

When asking about medications, make sure there is advice for different size people. A 60 pound female camper is different from the guy that played offensive line in college and has continued to build his weight over the years.

John🙂
 
If your doctor knows that you are at risk for certain types of allergic reactions such as those caused by insect stings or certain prescription drugs, then he might prescribe an EpiPen that you need to carry with you. It would be unwise and somewhat risky to indiscriminately use one of these on anybody that appeared to be having a reaction. Its use would be indicated only if the patient were going into anaphylactic shock. Epinephrine has potentially very serious side effects especially if the patient has CAD or CHF.

I have complained enough at our club about demonstrators who feel the need to waste everybody's time and cause people to get severe headaches (not to mention bore the heck out of the audience) by sanding ad nauseum and finally seem to gotten the message through although we still occasionally have a demonstrator who seems to think that people actually enjoy watching someone sand wood. We also don't allow demonstrators to use wood that can be a problem because the audience is not wearing breathing protection and that would include any spalted wood regardless of species. Using maple seems to be a safe choice -- I am not so sure about cherry as it gives me a headache.
 
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If it's an overnight camp, I would expect there would be a trained medical type available 24/7. If it's not the law it's the (liability) lawyers. If the camp doesn't have one, get one, and make sure your insurance company knows about it. Suggestion - make it a female. I have no problem donating a few days off to the local camps, but I require a female to be present at all times when dealing with females. Save yourself three meals a day by going female first.

The sheets the campers fill out that give you care and custody contain a medical section, so be sure and protect yourself by asking about preexisting conditions. The kid has asthma, he brings TWO inhalers, one of which is marked and kept at the first aid shack. All other medications are kept there and are logged as administered. As mentioned, standard medication for histamine reactions is an antihistamine, standard for anaphylaxis is epinepherine. This is true whether it's a roll in poison oak or a rolling piece of poison oak on the lathe. Bees and wasps, possibly ants, are more likely to send you to the epi than woodcarving.

Get one of those range-extending cell kits and send a wire up a tree or contact your local public safety people and borrow one of their radios if they have coverage. Sometimes a much better decision, because medical control and EMS carry the same. Don't forget charging capability or an extra battery, and while you're there, see if any one on the ambulance crew would care to give your volunteer a break day after tomorrow.🙂

EDIT: Basswood for everything.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.
My main concern is what steps should we do while waiting for the EMS? I am sure the camp would have qualified, trained staffs to handle emergencies. When minutes count, what we should do to do no harm?
 
As in any "emergency" situation, try to keep the situation as calm as possible. That means calming your self and the affected person. Not only does in permit more appropriate thinking, it also reduces the oxygen demand for the affected.

If you are unsure of where you are? That's a no brainer. Know where you are before you start the demo. If in a rural area or unfamiliar area? Contact the local authorities through their non-emergency numbers to best describe your location and or support they could offer. You might find a wood turning EMS crew who would donate time.

Lastly, I agree that prevention is the best policy. When I teach, I try to get the straitest and soundest wood possible for my students in a low reactive species, maple, cherry or ash.

just a few thoughts

Aaron
 
Ask your Pharmacist for information on how to manage an Emergency situation that would involve an allergic reaction. Chances are that they will discuss/recommend the EpiPen. In a situation where the persons airway is compromised from or because of a suspected allergic reaction, time is critical and the EpiPen is trully a life saver.
 
My 11yr old grandson has severe allergies. When he was younger I had a trip to the emergency room for feeding him spaghetti o's . Never thought of cheese being in them. I now read every lable much closer as any dairy or egg product will indeed send him into shock. we do keep an EpiPen also. In wanting to teach him the joys of turning I let him turn some pens. Of course he liked all the "pretty" tropical hardwoods that i have in a box. Not knowing how his system might react I let him turn maple and walnut. He did great, no problems. Wondering if the other woods would be ok for him to turn I googled "toxic woods" looking for warnings. Wow was I surprised to find out the two of the woods that people have severe reactions to are maple and walnut. Just my two cents.
 

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Robert Taylor said:
My 11yr old grandson has severe allergies. When he was younger I had a trip to the emergency room for feeding him spaghetti o's . Never thought of cheese being in them. I now read every lable much closer as any dairy or egg product will indeed send him into shock. we do keep an EpiPen also. In wanting to teach him the joys of turning I let him turn some pens. Of course he liked all the "pretty" tropical hardwoods that i have in a box. Not knowing how his system might react I let him turn maple and walnut. He did great, no problems. Wondering if the other woods would be ok for him to turn I googled "toxic woods" looking for warnings. Wow was I surprised to find out the two of the woods that people have severe reactions to are maple and walnut. Just my two cents.
Click to expand...

What about respiratory protection? I got our granddaughter a Dust B Gone mask.
 
yes indeed that is an option that i am looking into. meaning the powered type of resperators. we do use the disposable dust masks while sanding. i also have a dust collector and jet air cleaner now. so far so good no problems. i prefer not to wait for problems before i act though. prevention is best.
 
Gordon, if you're going out to demo anywhere, and are really concerned, take some Benadryl elixer along. Since the most likely reaction to toxic wood is simple urticaria, encourage the sufferer to take a weight/age appropriate dose as they depart for followup. If they're getting the sneezes and tight throat, encourage a dose as someone calls 911.

Full-fledged anaphylaxis can come on so rapidly that only oxygen and epi actually on hand have a chance. It is also vanishingly uncommon, especially for people who have sense enough to stay away from dust, or demonstrators who have the good sense to turn green wood so they don't make it.
 
Michael and others,

Thanks for the suggestions. It is not demos. Thanks to the subsidized grants from AAW, our Club now have a dozen mini lathes completed with chucks and tools at each station. We are holding hands-on classes for our members and campers. Effective respirators are expensive and nobody wants to re-use any such gear that has been used by others. The chance of such an occurrence is extremely rare, wearing a mask is uncomfortable in summer.

Every camper wants to bring the finished projects home, so they have to be sanded and finished.

We are guest to the YMCA. They let us use their big multi-purpose arts and crafts room. Adding mechanical ventilation is out also.

Providing Benadryl to our adult members with their own consent is a viable option. But to a child, I have my doubt on the liability issue even with our best intention. This is a strange world. Even a school nurse is not permitted to give medication to a child.

KEW,

Thanks to the link. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anaphylaxis/DS00009/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs
This seems to be a guide line that fits our action plan.

Thanks every body.
 
Gordon,

Agreeing with Michael, if there are going to be a lot of participants, see if you can arrange to have a local Paramedic or R.N. on hand at the camp (and paid for their time) if you're not near enough to a rescue squad with ALS personnel. In any case, if there will be more than a few campers, the local EMS should be notified of the location, duration, and nature of the event. If there will be minors in attendance overnight, they should probably arrive with medical information and emergency medication permission forms signed by their parents or guardians.

I agree that having some over-the-counter Benedryl or equivalent could be a good idea in the case of a mild to moderate reaction. Epinephrine is the drug of choice for a really severe reaction (anaphylaxis) but you'd need a licensed or certified provider to administer it (see above about Paramedic or R.N.) unless the patient has their own prescribed Epi-Pen, in which case anyone can help them administer it if they're unable.
 
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