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College tip: Use data below to create your own personalized checklist!

• About the U.S. Colleges Directory: Comparing Food Allergy and Gluten Free Policy– This guide is pure food allergy gold. It provides an insight into the three major college food service providers as they all answered 18 questions to the Allergic Living Magazine researchers/reporters. I call them researchers as this was a deep diver into data.
• Allergic Living’s U.S. Colleges Directory: Comparing Allergy and Gluten Free Policy – Is the partner to the above piece. If you are school shopping this guide list a healthy list of colleges and their food service providers.
• Managing Food Allergies at College – This download from Food Allergy Research and Education offers a good overview of the areas to be addressed, such as disability services, housing, dining services, etc.
• Emergency Care Plan – This is just a must-have. Roommates, RA’s and friends might need a roadmap of what to do during an emergency. My son keeps copies hanging by his dorm room door and in his backpack. The plan details how to administer the various types of epinephrine auto-injectors and other detailed information such as allergens, asthma, emergency contacts, etc.
• Allergic Child – This website and blog is penned by veteran food allergy mom Nicole Smith. Her son, Morgan, who also writes blogs about college life, has been an inspiration to many of us. He is taken on college with such inspiring gusto! He details is overseas experience and learning and an example of yes, this will work out–with planning and some work!
• Cashew Containing Kale Chip Teaches EMT That He’s Not Invisible – This article is key for all college bound  students to read as the beauty of youth is feeling like you can conquer anything! The lesson was that no matter what, following food allergy management protocol is critical. You’ll enjoy some of the irony in this piece too!
• Simon Katz’s Friends On a Food Allergy Tragedy: What We Wish We Had Known – Sober and powerful are the two words to describe this piece. Friends really do want to know about your allergies. They don’t seek a tragedy.
• FARE college related webinars – Drop by this webpage to check out webinars that might apply to your student! Topics like navigating college, travel and dining out can be found here.
• Dating with Allergies When a Kiss is not a Kiss – Ah the dreaded kissing topic. By now many students have experienced their first kiss and have dated. Alas, for several kids heading out, dating will be new or expanding! This article written by a food allergic adult is worth the read.
• Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) share this little gem, “Kissing Can Cause Allergic Reactions,” the sweet ending in this piece are the details of to avoid the kissing based reaction in the first place!
• Is Your Child Off to College? – I was honored to write this blog post for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Connection Team after I spoke at their teen retreat  about college. It’s a simple checklist of things to do! Checklists help keep parents and students on the same page, thus reducing the stress that can mount!
• “Student Charged with Hazing in Peanut Butter Allergy Case?”
• “Canadian Student Dies After Ordering Smoothie on Campus; Suffers Severe Allergic Reaction: Family”.
• 21 Resources for Teens with Food Allergies