Bag for epipen, boy starting secondary school

[Dillydreamer]

Any suggestions for a small bag cool enough for a boy to carry an epipen at a very large secondary school? Wondering about a small backpack or belt. Would a cross body bag work? His school bag won’t always be nearby.

I’m pretty sure he won’t be allowed to carry it around. There’s Government guidance on use and storage in schools. There will be a medical needs policy with details of where they are kept. Assuming there is individual medical info for your DS too.

My DS keeps his in a cross body bag at school its usually inside his back pack but he takes it out if he’s away from his bag for any length of time.
His school also keep extra pens for emergency use in the canteen and the student support room.

Best practice is very much for the child to carry the epipens with them. No use locked in a drawer in a locked office on the other side of the site.

Nope, EpiPens must be with the person they're prescribed to at all times.

@Dillydreamer i assume/hope he carries 2 pens? Medpac do some decent sturdy insulated cases, and as he's likely to have his school bag with him all day at school just make sure his bag has an easily accessible pocket where his pens case fits. I use the smallest medpac which holds 2 epipens, an inhaler, eye drops and emergency AHs.

You are absolutely wrong.

This is against all common sense. In an emergency it is surely safer for the person to carry the pen on them rather than to have to hunt down the nurse on the other side of the building. Kids have died due to the school staff's delays/inability to find epi pens.

can He not have it In his pocket?

You could get him a cross body bag.

www.medpac.co.uk/products/medpac-active-cross-body-bag

DH has his in a bright red EpiPen pouch with a carabiner clip that can hook onto any bag. This makes it easy for someone to spot if he isn't able to administer it himself and someone has to go in his bag to get the EpiPen out. He also has a dog tag chain he wears but you can get medical bracelets. His episode of anaphylaxis was very severe though and we don't yet know the exact allergen.

My DS always kept one in his blazer pocket and the other in his bag, plus one was kept by the school nurse.

You should ask for this post to be deleted as it is completely inaccurate. It’s life saving, emergency medication which is to be kept with a child of secondary school age at all times.

My daughter kept hers in a medical bag (with inhalers and antihistamines) in her school bag. If she didn’t have her school bag for any reason, it fit inside her blazer. It has a hook and I hook it onto my bag when we are out and about, but she wouldn’t have wanted to have it hanging off hers! I hope you find something he’s happy to carry.

@Dillydreamer and others I’ve upset, I Stand corrected so sorry and obviously wouldn’t want anyone at risk ever
The places @PeachesRule mentions are the sort I’ve come across too but on him is obviously best.

The one I knew of was in a blazer pocket - the zip up one on the inside of the chest - and the spare lived in the medical room which was attached to the school office - ie always manned.

Thanks all, inside zipped blazer pocket is something we hadn’t thought of, school is strict about them being worn, except in a heatwave. Thinking small zip bag with carabiner that could be attached to school bag or sports bag as well, they have to carry them everywhere- no lockers. It’s a recent diagnosis so all new to him, and us.

My son had a slim line pouch that clipped round his waist like a belt. He wore it from grade 5 and found it easy to wear.

Suggest checking school policy on meds.
Contact school nurses to speak with school re your sons medical needs for an EpiPen at all times.
I bought a meds bag from allergy lifestyle as I needed a much bigger bag for all my sons meds. Med pac is good too and there are others available. make sure they can hold two and a small cool pack on hotter days.
Consider joining medic alert. It’s worth the cost if you have anaphylaxis.
Anaphylaxis Uk are very supportive and worth getting in touch with. they also send out food alerts which are more than useful. You might find their information for schools and families useful. www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/

First few months my DS was diagnosed as having very severe and potentially life threatening allergies I was a nervous wreck. It does get easier with time

@Dillydreamer you may have to overcome some resistance from your GP to prescribe extras, but if you can, I would strongly recommend that you try to have enough Epipens so that the school ones stay in the bag/blazer permanently and you have different ones for home. If you're continually swapping the same couple from place to place there's a reasonable probability that at some point even a sensible teenager will realise that their device is still in their school blazer pocket when you arrive at a sports event 200 miles from home. (Guess how I know... )
Remember that you can still use an Epipen when it's past its expiry date as long as the fluid in the inspection window isn't cloudy so I used to rotate a number round DS's bags when he was at school - newest ones in his school stuff as that's where he spent most time and realistically was at highest risk, older ones at home and an out of date but still usable one in each sports bag then if he did forget we always had a back up. In my experience, in the early days you and he will be hyper aware and not forget, but as time goes on it's easy to get a bit complacent and that's when the "oh I left it at school" events are more likely.

You get some pouches that basically go on belts (like old school phone pouches that middle age men thought were all the rage for a while).

That’s what I often used as a scout leader carrying them round with me for younger kids.

Blazer pocket works well too. Possibly with a sticker on the outside of the pocket saying epi pen in here.

https://amzn.eu/d/0Mcj2Wy

You want something discreet but also obvious.

Have you not met with school staff to complete a risk assessment yet? That should absolutely happen before his first day! He will need a HCP completed and shared with all staff, plus his meds handed over.

DS2 has a small adidas bag for his EpiPens, inhaler, spacer and a copy of his care plan that sits inside his larger school backpack. Then when he goes somewhere in school without his larger backpack, he just takes the smaller bag with him.

He also has 2 other EpiPens, inhaler, spacer and medication at school.

Oh, and I just asked my DS for his top tip and he says make sure his close friends know where he keeps his Epipens. You see so many staff at secondary school and they see hundreds of kids every day so with the best will in the world they forget stuff. But best friends are always around and rather than have a teacher rummaging through his bag or running to the first aid room, if his mates can just say where he keeps it it coukd save vital minutes. DS never had a reaction at school but one of his classmates did and DS recognised what was happening and knew where the boy kept his pen which meant he got prompt treatment.

I’m actually a grandma tasked by dd to source possible bags as she’s working before a week off. I’ll look at all suggestions quoted and send on.
They’re waiting for a call back from school @Soontobe60 and will definitely chase it up. Thanks.
Local doc is very supportive luckily @MrsAvocet, grateful for all the detail, good to learn about the expiry date and clear liquid if nothing else available. Thank your ds, great idea, dgs has 2 good friends he’s going with and others from sports teams will be there as well. Dgs has been great at checking foods, teaching the rest of us how to use the practice epipen, it was just the bag he was a bit hesitant about.

Oh and thank you @triballeader , we’re looking for all knowledge and support we can get.

Op can I suggest telling his tutor and asking them to tell the rest of the tutor group where his EpiPen is. I have a student in my tutor group and we did this. We also did a special whole school tutor activity on extreme allergies and EpiPens and how to use them. It helped me feel better as his tutor and I was happier students he would be with also knew.

Not for AAIs. They have to be on the person who needs them (and possibly 2 spares in medical for those who have been prescribed one but a pen fails or they've not got them on them).