On the AccuPOS website, I found this incredible, comprehensive list of food allergy related articles, “Food Allergy Guide for Restaurants”. Actually, I discovered 41 links to topics ranging from diagnosis, testing, prevalence, precautions, you name it! The part that surprised me is that the AccuPOS is a company that sells point of sales and accounting software?!?! Now, restaurants use point of sales systems to manage your orders so I can see the connection. What impressed me was that AccuPOS dedicated an entire webpage and the time and energy for someone to research food allergies and link information to resources, such as the Mayo Clinic, etc.
image courtesy of Idea Go via Freedigitalphoto.net
The only item missing was links to restaurant food allergy training. Can you guess who I just emailed with links for restaurant food allergy training? If you have any suggestions for food allergy training resources, please add them below and I’ll forward them to AccuPOS or feel free to contact them too. They are clearly on a good path with the current data, but there are some wonderful online resources for restaurants out there right now. This company did pull at my heart strings since, way, way back in the day, I was a software trainer for a Hotel software company and I taught hotel staff how to use their point of sale and management systems!
You just never know where you’ll find a food allergy advocate after all!
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
That is awesome! I am working on getting something like this done with our local clinics and possibly with a pharmacy or 2 if I can quite being chicken about it and/or get ahold of the right people. 🙂 I want to get a list of places/websites people can go for more information who have just been diagnosed with food allergies. I know it can be so overwhelming, and I know they ask their doctor, allergist or phamacist first and some don’t have a whole lot of answers, oddly enough. It would be great for them to say, “We have this page on our website that will link you to blogs, websites, etc.” or “Here is this print-out of blogs, websites, etc. that will be a big help to you”. Hopefully it will be the first step of a lot of places following suit…That is the plan!
GREAT idea Julie–you are sooooo committed to educating everyone! I love it!
Education for pharmacies and, believe it or not, HOSPITALS would be of utmost importance!! I’ve been an ER trauma RN for 10 yrs, and you may be surprised to know that the número uno snack choice amongst docs and nurses…nuts! I actually went into anaphylaxis while at work bc a fellow RN was eating dry roasted peanuts next to me, and used my keyboard.
My pharmacy, whom I’ve told countless times about my nut allergies and Celiac’s, are clueless. They compounded medicine for me, and just before I popped it into my mouth, I read at the bottom of the leaflet…”contains peanut oil!” Needless to say, I ripped them one;) In addition, whenever I ask them if an OTC med/Rx is gluten free, they look at me like I have 10 heads! There should be a country wide system implemented into the POS systems they use that has all updated allergen info…as well as notating on your records that you have ___ allergy, just as they would with a penicillin or sulfa allergy.
You can’t make this up! Sorry for going off topic a bit, lol. Maybe you can share some if these ideas with your pos people?! Keep up the good work, and great site! Glad I found you:)
Mishi,
Thanks for commenting! You are soooo right about hospitals! You have a great idea regarding a POS system and allergens! You have me thinking now….. My niece has a sulfa allergy and had a reaction to a medicated cream. You have a great idea.
Hum….
Thanks for coming by the blog! Hope to hear from you again.