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At the Tuesday, May 26, 2015 school board meeting, the board members discussed placing emergency epipens in county schools.
“Our school system has only three nurses for the entire county and often times medical help can be miles away,” stated Dr. Tom Duncan.
Board member Dale Shots fully supported the motion to allow epipens at the schools. “If it helps our children, let’s do it,” stated Shots.
Most allergic reactions happen with younger children. Sixty-three percent of the incidents occurred in elementary schools and 37 percent in high schools.
The most common causes of food-related anaphylaxis were peanuts (55 percent) and fish such as salmon, tuna and flounder (13 percent). “Stocking emergency epinephrine is a medical necessity for schools in every state,” Dr. Bryan Martin, college vice president, said in the news release. “In addition to protecting those whose epinephrine auto-injector isn’t immediately accessible during a reaction, stock supplies help save the lives of those who experience an anaphylactic reaction and don’t have a prescribed epinephrine auto-injector,” he said. Currently, 41 states have laws recommending schools stock epinephrine
According to a new health study posted on WedMD, “Keeping supplies of epinephrine in schools saves lives.”
Jill Zattoni, head county nurse, explained that only trained personal will be allowed to administer the medicine.
Details of how the program will work are still under discussion. The board gave the go ahead on planning for the purchase of EpiPens in the budget for 2015-2016 school year.
