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Welcome to the OASG
A place for parents, family & friends of children with allergies
Mission
Statement
Welcome to the Ottawa Anaphylaxis
Support Group home page. This volunteer group is dedicated to individuals or
families affected by allergies and anaphylaxis - a
life-threatening allergic reaction. Our mandate is to share anaphylaxis-related
information and promote allergy awareness in and around the greater Ottawa area.
The support group (contact: Karen
Eck) is primarily the first line of support for anaphylactic
individuals or families. The group holds regular meetings to provide
opportunities for both formal discussion and informal get-togethers.
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 | Finally... Food You Can Eat! |
Shirley Plant, the Ottawa-based author of Finally… Food I Can Eat, and her business partner, Helen Niezgoda, will be special guests at the May 7 OASG meeting.
Finally… Food I Can Eat was published earlier this year, and has been getting a lot of very positive press. Shirley and Helen also have their own business called Delicious Alternatives.
On May 7, 2008, the Delicious Alternatives team will be presenting ideas on
- substitution cooking
- recipe conversion
- rotation and elimination diets
- organic food
- food additives and preservatives
- other helpful hints
Needing to go on a special diet plan, whether to lose weight, eat better or avoid foods due to allergies, intolerances or other health concerns, can be a difficult and frustrating task.
Delicious Alternatives specializes in menu planning, recipe creation/conversion and catering for people trying to deal with these issues. Through dietary consultations, they customize menu plans and recipes to meet an individual's needs and goals.
Their recommendations focus on healthy, natural, additive- and preservative-free cooking, customized to clients' lifestyle requirements.
Delicious Alternatives… helping you shed light on food allergies and food intolerances through healthy and creative eating.
Click here to go to the General Store Publishing House online store, where you can order "Finally… Food I Can Eat".
Click here to go to the CTV Regional Contact page, where you can find the segment about Shirley and her journey. (Scroll down to SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2008.)
Click here for more info about the May 7 OASG meeting.
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Posted by keck on Tuesday, April 29 @ 21:33:05 EDT (17 reads)
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 | Kyle Dine available to give concerts in Ottawa in April |
Kyle Dine, the Allergic Troubadour, will be available to give concerts at schools in Ottawa in April.
For more details about Kyle and his "You Must Be Nuts!" CD for kids with food allergies, go to his website.
For more details about the Ottawa concerts, see the Proposal Letter for Principals.
The dates that Kyle is available to give concerts in the Ottawa region are:
April 10-11
April 14-16
April 21-23
If you think your school would be interested, please pass the following materials on to your school principal (or the appropriate party):
Proposal Letter for Principals
Kyle Dine promo poster
Reference letter
For more info, please contact Kyle Dine.
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Posted by keck on Sunday, March 02 @ 22:57:30 EST (41 reads)
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 | CBC News documentary: Coping with Deadly Allergies |
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Posted by keck on Saturday, March 01 @ 12:50:46 EST (42 reads)
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 | Dr. Pauline Kerr (Ottawa allergist) moving her practice |
Dr. Pauline Kerr is moving her practice to Appletree Medical Clinic.
She told me that what is great about Appletree is that she will run the same consulting allergy & asthma practice as she does now, same testing methods, etc. but they have electronic medical records, which she feels is better. Also, patients can book appointments by emailing the clinic.
For more info about Dr. Kerr's practice, see her mydoctor.ca web page.
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Posted by keck on Thursday, September 13 @ 06:49:34 EDT (337 reads)
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 | Label law delay angers activists |
Impatience grows over progress of life-or-death issue
May 03, 2007
Peter Krivel, Toronto Star, Staff reporter
Canadians who suffer from food allergies continue to wait for common-sense food-labelling laws that should have been on the books at least a year ago.
Health Canada's amendments to labelling regulations were made two years ago. All that's needed before they are put into effect is final comments from interested parties.
For the full story, click here.
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Posted by keck on Saturday, May 05 @ 10:15:51 EDT (223 reads)
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 | Aliments Ange-Gardien (dairy/egg/peanut/tree nut-free desserts) |
Brigitte, an OASG member, has told me about a new Quebec company called Aliments Ange-Gardien that makes allergy-friendly desserts.
The owner is the mom of a child who is severely allergic to peanuts, nuts, dairy, and eggs, so all the desserts that she makes is free of these allergens. Her business partner is a doctor.
The website is going to be bilingual but for the moment has mostly French content. You can see an English page with general info, though.
The product page shows beautiful cakes, cookies, muffins, and breads (chocolate bread and banana bread). The cakes look really stunning.
We are going to try to get her products into our region.
I like what the Mission page states (which I've translated): "... it's time to put an end to the boring, sad, and dry desserts that are usually offered to people with food allergies."
I couldn't agree more!
Karen
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Posted by keck on Friday, April 27 @ 17:54:41 EDT (404 reads)
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 | The Food Allergy Project - New Video |
The Food Allergy Project has a new 12-minute video that is worth watching and sharing with others.
The video focuses on the need for more research and better technology for people at risk of anaphylaxis.
It also reveals what it is like to live with food allergies from the perspective of parents, siblings and those with allergies themselves. You will hear personal accounts, from children and their parents, of allergic reactions … sometimes as a result of airborne allergens or trace amounts.
The video is produced by David Bunning and Denise Bunning. He’s a millionaire businessman out of Chicago who has given $15 million to research for a cure.
Some of the research sponsored by the FAI - Food Allergy Initiative - is funded by the Food Allergy Project.
As Cindy Paskey of NASK says, "We need a cure. In the meantime, only education and extreme vigilance can keep food allergic people safe."
I certainly admire this family for putting their money to good use!
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Posted by keck on Thursday, February 15 @ 23:26:35 EST (247 reads)
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 | Schools and Allergies |
Just before Christmas, the Barrhaven Independent newspaper (in the Ottawa region) published an editorial called Dying over spilt milk: The new reality about our schools. It was about about how food allergies were being dealt with in one specific school.
The allergy that was getting the most attention was dairy. The school has removed the milk program and pizza days in order to reduce the risk to dairy-allergic students, and it's upset some parents.
In his editorial, the editor expressed his frustration at his wife not being able to send in home-made products and his not being able to get straight answers to his questions from the school board and Ministry of Health.
He also quoted one anonymous mother as saying "They've made everyone else worry about milk allergies except the student with the allergy. He doesn't have to change his life but every other kid in his class does".
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Posted by keck on Sunday, January 28 @ 12:07:38 EST (365 reads)
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 | New OASG survey! |
Time Magazine recently published an article "Allergies at the Dinner Table". It begins:
For children with food allergies and their parents, an allergy isn't just a medical condition, it's a psychologically taxing way of life.
Click here for the remaining text.
One very interesting comment was: "Several hospitals around the country [in the U.S.] are in the process of developing psychiatric programs specifically for families with food allergies."
I hadn’t heard about this before, and was curious: if we had a program like this at CHEO, would you use it?
You can answer this question by participating in our new survey (top right)!
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Posted by keck on Friday, January 05 @ 06:14:51 EST (259 reads)
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 | Sabrina's Law resource page |
Allergic Living magazine has a great Sabrina's Law resource page.
Links include
- The legislation
- A Sabrina's Law in Your Province? Organizing to see this type of legislation spread across Canada - and into the U.S. - is taking place on Allergic Living's forum.
- Allergic Living magazine's full article - Sabrina's Law
- For teachers and principals - Ontario e-workshop
- A comprehensive resource - Allergy Safe Communities site
- Sabrina Shannon's CBC radio documentary- A Nutty Tale
Check it out!!
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Posted by keck on Saturday, September 23 @ 12:38:54 EDT (466 reads)
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