By Kelley Lindberg
Two school students’ lives were saved this month because of
the new law in Nevada allowing schools to keep stock EpiPens on hand. An 8th
grader suffered their first allergic reaction during a cooking class, and a
school nurse grabbed an EpiPen and administered it while others called 911.
Then, two days later, a 9th grader suffered anaphylactic symptoms during lunch,
and the school staff administered an EpiPen while 911 was called. (See "EpiPens Saving Lives on School Campuses.")
So far, 27 states have made it legal for schools to keep “stock”
epinephrine auto-injectors on hand to use on students who don’t have their own
prescriptions. A surprising number of the allergic reactions that happen at
school are first-time reactions in students who didn’t previously have an
allergy. (You can develop a food allergy at any age, often to foods you’ve
eaten without any problems for years.) Since those kids obviously won’t have
their own prescriptions, it’s essential for schools to have their own supply on
hand.
On November 13, 2013, President Obama signed into law the
School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, which encourages states to pass laws allowing schools to stock
epinephrine and treat students who
don’t have a prescription for it. The law enables states that pass such laws to
be eligible for grants that will allow them to stock their schools with epinephrine
auto-injectors. Fortunately, Utah is one of the 27 states that allow stock
epinephrine in schools.
In addition, Mylan Specialty, the company that manufactures
EpiPens, has a program called EpiPen4Schools that
provides free EpiPens to schools to improve the access to epinephrine for
students who have reactions while at school.
The following is the list of the 27 states that allow
schools to stock epinephrine auto-injectors as of October of last year (2013). Additional
states may be considering similar legislation this year. If your state is on
this list, call your local school to make sure they have EpiPens or other
auto-injectors on hand. If they don’t, let them know about Mylan’s generous and
life-saving EpiPen4Schools program.
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
