Yellowknife (Oct 01/04) - Every school in the NWT is now better prepared to deal with students who have anaphylactic allergies, which can be fatal if the reaction is not treated immediately.

The Weledeh Catholic School Parent Advisory Committee recently launched their Allergy Alert materials, which includes Alert posters and information such as How to Use an Epi-pen. They also have stickers that children with life threatening allergies can wear to alert people to their allergies.

The materials are now available to all schools in the NWT in English, Dogrib, North Slavey, Inuvialuktun and French.

"All translations were done by staff members at Weledeh school," said Principal Merril Dean.

"I think it is really unique that it is in five languages and available to all of NWT."

The material focuses on allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, bee and wasp stings, eggs, fish and kiwi.

The posters have room on them for class pictures of students with these allergies, alerting anyone who enters the classroom as to which students could suffer a serious allergic reaction.

"The reality is that pretty much every school has children that have allergies," Dean said. "It is reassuring to parents whose children are at risk that others recognize that risk and are aware of how to deal with it in an emergency."