$200 Help Your Classroom Grant

The fact that we offer this grant really sets us apart; showing our partners a little appreciation for everything they do.

SAN MATEO, Calif. (PRWEB)
December 05, 2019

California Casualty has a gift for educators who need to fill an unmet need for their classrooms with the Help Your Classroom grant program. Each month, California Casualty, provider of the NEA® Auto and Home Insurance Program, awards eight randomly selected instructors from across the nation with donations totaling $1,600 to help them purchase essentials that benefit students.

Stephanie H., from Washington, was able to leverage the funds to purchase much-needed organizers for her classroom that she has wanted for a long while.

Another recent recipient, California’s Jeffery J., said, “I ordered my supplies. We will use them to beautify our school. I got paints and chalk and it will be fantastic! I appreciate the opportunity and the support!”

The Help Your Classroom program was created by California Casualty to aid schools affected by diminished resources. Recipients must use the $200 to provide supplies or equipment that directly benefits students and classrooms. Since its inception, more than 1,300 educators have received the help.

California Casualty Partner Relations team member, Tara Stoudt, says she is thrilled that she can help instructors and education support professionals with the funds. “I can’t tell you the countless responses I get from teachers about how much of their own money they spend on basic classroom needs, such as tissues and pencils. The fact that we offer this grant really sets us apart; showing our partners a little appreciation for everything they do,” she said.

Tara’s colleague, Katelyn Hoffman, said, “Many of these educators’ needs are basic school supplies because they are in a low-income district and get limited help from the school, and families can’t afford to send in items.”

The awards have been used to: augment audio and video equipment, purchase phonemic reading aids, provide writing practice boards, and buy books, paper, pencils and healthy snacks.

No purchase is necessary for the Help Your Classroom grants. Any member of the NEA or a state affiliate is eligible to enter at http://www.calcas.com/help-your-classroom.

Serving educators since 1951, California Casualty provides auto and home insurance for teachers and gives back with other programs that benefit schools and students:

It only takes a moment to join the thousands of educators who have already received a $200 Help Your Classroom donation at http://www.calcas.com/help-your-classroom.

Founded in 1914, California Casualty provides auto and home insurance to educators, firefighters, law enforcement and nurses across the country. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, with Service Centers in Arizona, Colorado and Kansas, California Casualty has been led by four generations of the Brown family. To learn more about California Casualty, or to request an auto insurance quote, please visit http://www.calcas.com or call 1.800.800.9410.

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“These results have significant implications and are informative when it comes to infant feeding recommendations concerning allergies and the development of new guidelines.” – Gideon Lack, MD

MILWAUKEE (PRWEB)
December 04, 2019

Despite overall low adherence to the early introduction regimen, early introduction to allergenic solids was found to be effective in preventing the development of food allergies in specific groups of infants; those sensitized to food at enrollment and those with eczema of increasing severity at enrollment. These results originate from “Efficacy of the EAT study amongst infants at high risk of developing food allergy,” a new paper published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI).

This paper is one of many originating from The Enquiring About Tolerance (EAT) study. A total of 1,303 three-month old infants were recruited from the general population in England and Wales and placed in one of two groups. One group was introduced to six allergenic foods from three months of age alongside breastfeeding and was known as the Early Introduction Group (EIG). The other group exclusively breastfed for six months and was termed the Standard Introduction Group (SIG).

According to the aforementioned paper, children with sensitization to one or more of the six allergenic foods at enrollment who were part of the EIG developed less food allergies (19.2%) than children with food sensitization at enrollment who were not introduced to foods early (34.2%).

These results emerged despite low adherence, which appeared most prominent among families with increased maternal age, non-white ethnicity and lower enrollment maternal quality of life, according to “Factors influencing adherence in a trial of early introduction of allergenic food,” another paper published in JACI.

“These results have significant implications and are informative when it comes to infant feeding recommendations concerning allergies and the development of new guidelines,” said Gideon Lack, MD, of King’s College London and Principal Investigator of the EAT study. “If early introduction to certain allergenic foods became a part of these recommendations, we also have data that tells us what populations may need extra support when it comes to implementing the recommendations.”

Further results from “Factors influencing adherence in a trial of early introduction of allergenic food” showed that out of the 652 infants in the EIG group, only 42% achieved the per-protocol adherence of sustained, high dose consumption of five or more early introduction foods. Logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with non-adherence and influencing factors were divided into enrollment and post-enrollment factor groups. What it found was that adherence varied greatly depending on the food, in addition to the demographic data already mentioned. Interestingly, initial sensitization to allergenic foods at enrollment was not associated with overall non-adherence. Post enrollment factors significantly related with non-adherence included parent reported symptoms with infant allergenic food consumption and feeding difficulties.

A third associated study titled “Challenges experienced with the early introduction and sustained consumption of allergenic foods in the EAT study: a qualitative analysis” dove deeper into what factors influenced non-adherence. Three combinations of interim questionnaire responses that were collected during the study were analyzed and grouped into themes. Three major themes emerged: children refusing allergenic foods, caregiver reported concern about the foods causing reactions and practical problems including lifestyle constraints and food preparation issues. These three challenges all contributed significantly to non-adherence and would need to be addressed if infant feeding recommendations were updated.

Results from “Efficacy of the EAT study amongst infants at high risk of developing food allergy” provided many additional details about the EAT study. The early introduction of allergenic foods to infants who were not at a high risk of developing food allergies was not associated with an increased risk of developing food allergy: there were no significant differences in food allergy rates between the two groups of infants with no enrollment sensitization to any food.

At the end of the study, amongst infants sensitized to peanut at enrollment, 33.3% of such infants in the SIG developed a peanut allergy versus 14.3% in the EIG. Amongst infants who were sensitized to egg at enrollment, egg allergy developed in 48.7% in the SIG compared to 20.0% of EIG participants. “We weren’t looking for individual food allergy outcomes in this study,” said Michael Perkin, MD, of St George’s, University of London and Co-Principal Investigator of the EAT study, “but we did find there to be significant differences in the rates of allergy to peanuts and eggs. In terms of sesame, wheat, cow’s milk and fish, we didn’t see enough instances of allergy to perform any subgroup analyses.”

The results from “Efficacy of the EAT study amongst infants at high risk of developing food allergy” didn’t show intention-to-treat efficacy when those with visible eczema at enrollment were considered as one group, but was present in the moderate eczema subgroup and with continuous SCORAD (a clinical tool for assessing the severity of atopic dermatitis) for egg allergy. Additional research must be performed to explore potential benefits of early introduction when it comes to eczema.

“The EAT study has provided us with a wealth of data that is still being analyzed,” said Professor Lack. “As more research about early introduction of specific food allergens continues, we will get closer to new early introduction recommendations that will hopefully help to prevent food allergies in the future.”

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) represents allergists, asthma specialists, clinical immunologists, allied health professionals and others with a special interest in the research and treatment of allergic and immunologic diseases. Established in 1943, the AAAAI has nearly 7,000 members in the United States, Canada and 72 other countries. The AAAAI’s Find an Allergist/Immunologist service is a trusted resource to help you find a specialist close to home.

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