Today Mylan is launching an interesting and high energy campaign/competition:  Raise Your Hand for Anaphylaxis Awareness™.  I like this program for two reasons:  first of all, my public school district can win one of four $15,000 grants to use towards anaphylaxis educational programs (think teacher training, student education, speakers, materials, etc.).  My second reason is that I’m inspired by Mylan Specialty LP® supporting and using the term anaphylaxis !  Note: I was not paid to say anything nice here, I really like this program and want to share this with you.  For far too many years, the food allergy community used the term food allergy, which my children are diagnosed with, but the problem here is that folks compare a food allergy to a cat allergy.  They believe a Zrytec tablet will handle any reaction to a peanut, just the way the antihistamine handles cat dander.  Wrong!   I always used the term life threatening food or anaphylaxis .  When we use the term anaphylaxis, most conversations start with:  what’s anaphylaxis? …and the conversation begins.   Therefore, I give my two thumbs up just on the name.  Now, back to the campaign/competition and the quest for $15,000 while raising awareness with our hands!

image courtesy of Raise Your Hand for Anaphylaxis Awareness™-Mylan Specialty LP®

The point of this competition is for all of us, parents, teachers, students, family members and friends is to … “Raise Our Hands For Anaphylaxis Awareness” by  casting a vote for our public school district.  When you raise your hand, you are invited to share the reason in 140 characters or less, of why you are raising your hand. We can raise our hand (vote) every 24 hours.  The top four school districts with the most hands raised (votes) are each the winners of the $15,000.  The key to winning the competition is to spread the word to everyone!  Get as many folks as you can to “raise their hands” daily -meaning to vote daily.  My son’s previous school participated in a similar competition and won $10,000.  We voted every day and asked friends and family to do the same.  What we found success by reminding our community via Facebook and twitter to vote–each day! Also, if you follow the competition on Twitter, there will be bonus voting days that will only be announced via Twitter @anaphylaxis101!

image courtesy of   Raise Your Hand for Anaphlyaxis Awareness™  of Mylan Specialty LP®

The simple act of community members visiting the education rich website to vote is simply gold.  This what I am after as a parent, I want people hearing and reading  the term anaphylaxis as many times as humanly possible.  I want them to have at this finger tips  interesting anaphylaxis information, tips and facts.  When you visit the Raise Your Hand for Anaphylaxis Awareness website, you’ll find a link to actress Julie Bowen’s story and her relationship with anaphylaxis along with many other educational resources.  I find this easily accessible education tools very, very appealing!  Here is a link to an interview with Julie Bowen regarding this campaign and her experience with Anaphylaxis, “Julie Bowen: Would you Recognize Anaphylaxis?”.  She discusses moving from a place of not understanding what anaphylaxis is to being an advocate and living with it daily..

image of teacher Raising her Hand for Anaphlyaxis Awareness™ courtesy of Mylan Specialty LP®

The Raise Your Hand for Anaphylaxis Awareness is a component of the greater Get Schooled in Anaphylaxis™ website.  The Resource Library on this site is comprehensive and might be worth a visit.  On this site there is an educational tool that I have never seen before and at my glance of it, I think I may ask for my daughter’s school to use the Anaphylaxis Assembly in a Box.  It is just that: a school assembly all in one downloadable spot.  I downloaded it and found a simple and brightly colored power point presentation that introduces students to anaphylaxis via two children named Ana and Phyl who have life threatening allergies.  Through these two little characters, I learned about allergic triggers, such as peanuts, bee stings and latex  as I was taught about reactions, avoidance, being prepared and there was even a quiz!  The “box” also included a very well written letter to school administrators, advising them on how to host an assembly, who to reach out to for support and even a template letter for the administrator to use in requesting a speaker to assist.  I definitely suggest anyone with an elementary aged child to check this out to see if it is appealing and worth requesting your school principal download the program.

image of teacher Raising her Hand for Anaphlyaxis Awareness™ courtesy of Mylan Specialty LP®

I “Raised my Hand for Anaphylaxis Awareness” today and will keep on raising it until October 1, 2013!

Please share this post or this program with your friends; with so many states adopting epinephrine in school policy, many school districts could desperately use the $15,000 to help with anaphylaxis and epinephrine education.