Parents: Do Your Homework

• Complete all necessary school forms.

• Type or neatly write emergency instructions. Include known triggers and early warning signals, with specific information on when to call for help. If your child uses a peak flow meter, indicate the normal peak expiratory flow rates, along with green, yellow, and red zones. List medications, identifying the correct names, the dosages, when each should be used, and expected results. Include your physician’s phone number.

• List home and work phone numbers of both parents on the emergency care card and pager or cell phone numbers if appropriate. Also list two backup people, in case primary contacts are unavailable. Make sure each backup has written instructions detailing what to do if your child has an emergency.

• Leave a set of medications at school, with full instructions about their use. Follow school regulations carefully; generally they require you deliver unopened medications, with prescription information intact. If your child is allowed to carry his own medications, make sure all necessary permission forms are filled out, then provide the school with a backup set of medications.

• Label all medications and equipment with the student’s name and appropriate use.

• Update information as necessary.