Kelley Stenton is trying to make a difference in the lives of young allergy sufferers.
Working in emergency rooms for 15 years, registered nurse Kelley Stenton felt like it was easy to make a difference. When she stepped into the role of school nurse at South Valley Elementary School three years ago, she walked into a completely different environment. She asked herself: “How can I make a difference where I am now?”
One day during her first year at South Valley, Stenton came across the Teal Pumpkin Project — a nationwide campaign encouraging people to provide food alternatives to trick-or-treaters who are allergy sufferers. Those participating in the campaign let trick-or-treaters know by displaying a teal pumpkin outside of their door.
Since discovering the campaign, Stenton has taken it upon herself to educate students about the project and allergy awareness, and she has been consistently delighted to hear back from students and parents who participated. She said her hope in educating young children about food allergies is that she’s helping foster empathy among the next generation.
Stenton said in her first year working at South Valley, she would often have parents of students with allergies come in and discuss their child’s allergy. She said these conversations often ended with them posing the question: What are you going to do to keep my kid safe?
These conversations got Stenton thinking. She said she understood parents entrusted the school with their children’s safety each day when they dropped them off.
“How can I make them feel better,” Stenton said of the conversation. “I can keep my promise and keep them safe.”
With that goal in mind, Stenton immersed herself in research about food allergies. She said in reading up on the subject, she found a common misconception was that parents of children with food allergies are overly concerned or “annoying,” but for children with severe allergies, reactions can be life or death.
Every classroom at South Valley has at least one peanut/tree nut-free child. For that reason, each year, prior to Halloween, Stenton goes into first-, second- and third-grade classrooms in the hope of using the teal pumpkin project as a way of fostering empathy among students.
Stenton said sometimes students with food allergies can be victims of bullying, so she explains to students that in the same way people can’t choose their eye color or height, they can’t choose whether they have a food allergy.
Many of the students may not understand the seriousness of allergies prior to the lesson, Stenton said. For that reason, Stenton informs students that allergies can be life-threatening. Her goal is to dissuade students who may pressure allergy sufferers into eating something they shouldn’t.
“I’ve never had a bad lesson,” Stenton said. “They don’t think it’s funny. They get very curious about what they can do to keep their friends safe.”
At the third-grade level, Stenton has students bring in pumpkins to paint teal. She said she tells students to go home and teach their parents something new by informing them about the teal pumpkin project.
During her lessons, Stenton instructs the young students on practices to keep their friends safe. She encourages students to wash their hands, avoid eating on the bus and dissuades them from sharing food.
Within the school, Stenton is also working to keep allergy sufferers safe in other ways. Students who have peanut/tree nut allergies sit at a designated peanut/tree nut-free table in the cafeteria at which she ensures students never sit alone or feel isolated by encouraging other students to join them.
She said her emphasis is always on inclusion. Any classroom party taking place now has a permission slip that goes along with it detailing the menu, and parents always have the option to send in food for their student if their child is an allergy sufferer.
“My big thing is never leaving a child out,” Stenton said.
Stenton said each year her presentation gets better as she learns more about the impact of having food allergies from parents and her research. Following Halloween, Stenton is delighted to receive letters from parents who participated in the project. She said her hope is that as more people learn about the teal pumpkin project each year, they will also get more informed about allergies.
To learn more about food allergies and the teal pumpkin project, visit https://www.foodallergy.org/education-awareness/teal-pumpkin-project.
