Just a little information so if you are not familiar with what we've been trying to get accomplished in the House of Representatives in the state of Tennessee. My son has a PA and he almost died at a Metro Nashville Public School in Tennessee on 09/12/2005 by him unknowingly coming into contact with some form of peanut butter products in music class. My son's Pediatrician thinks there was some form of PB product on the desk where he was sitting. The School System would not make the accommodations requested by my son's pediatrician. The Metro Nashville School System states that this is because the State of Tennessee Attorney General has said that PA's are not a disability. I STRONGLY disagree with the Tennessee Attorney General regarding this issue and I decided that something has to be done to protect these children with anaphylaxis food allergies. Therefore, I pulled my son out of MNPS and started Home Schooling him. Then I proposed legislation be put into place to make school districts work with Pediatricians to come to a resolution to protect these children at the very least. However, when we went in front of the House of Representatives two weeks ago, they asked for policies that other states and school districts have put into place to protect their children. I posted this topic on the PA Network and asked for all of you guys help. The response I got was unbelievable! You guys are GREAT! I got ton's of e-mail's from you all and you all sent me policies that your State and/or School District has in place. All of this information was presented to the House of Representatives yesterday, Tuesday 03/07/2006. "Our bill" passed the First House Committee yesterday, and it is going to the Full House Committee next week. I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate your help and that due to all of your help the Bill did pass the first Committee yesterday! Thank You & May God Bless You ALL!
Laura Duke
[email]7051996@bellsouth.net[/email]
That is great news!
Good work!!
I am so thrilled for you! My hair was standing up reading your post!I am so happy to have found this network. It is a wonderful support system filled with great information. I wonder how I could find out how New York fits this situation? I am trying to find out other school policy's to help educate my own school. You should feel very proud of yourself we are for sure our child's best advocate! Congratulations again!
Thank you! I have contacted the Board of Education in Albany, New York to see if they had any policies in place at the state level. However, I don't recall if they have anything in place state wide or if it is left up to the individual school districts to handle the issue. I looked through all of my e-mails but I couldn't find the email from them. I contacted every single state in the United States so it is hard to remember which one had what. However, from the information that I received from all of the different states Massachusetts has the best plan by far! They have a very detailed 84 page manual "Managing Life Threatening Food Allergies in Schools." Massachusetts is the best state to live in if your child has anaphylaxis food allergies. Spokeane Washington Public Schools has the next best plan. We must bring as much awareness to this very serious issue as possible. I just got an email from the Director of Health from Oldham County Schools in Kentucky. She was telling me that they lost a child to anaphylactic shock in 1997. This has absolutely broken my heart! Not taking action to help protect these children (as well as my own) has not ever been an option for me, but especially not after I have heard countless stories like this child loosing his/her life due to anaphylactic shock. It changes you and the stories like this one make me more determine than ever to keep fighting for all of our children. I just hope and pray that getting attention brought to this very deadly issue will help save at least one child's precious life.
Take Care,
Laura Duke
[email]7051996@bellsouth.net[/email]
[This message has been edited by Laura Duke (edited March 09, 2006).]
Congratulations on your great success! That is wonderful news.
The reason that Spokane has such a great policy is because they also had a child die from anaphylaxis. He was pa and died on a field trip. They left him alone on the bus and did not use the epi until 1 to 2 hours after the reaction started. If you do a search, you will find all the details. His name was Nathan Walters and he was in third grade. It was after his death that his parents pushed to get Spokane to change their policies. Almost forgot, they knew he was pa, and the lunch they gave him on the field trip was a pb sandwich and a peanut butter cookie! He did not eat the sandwich, but thought the cookie was a sugar cookie. He was starving so he ate part of it and died. Very sad.
[This message has been edited by Marizona (edited March 08, 2006).]
What? I had heard something about a child dying on a field trip from anaphylactic shock due to his PA, but I didn't realize that this child was in the U.S. (Not that it matters but I didn't know that.) This poor child and his family! This is inexcusable and the School System knew of this child's PA and they packed a PB&J sandwich for him, and a PB Cookie? Oh, No! This makes me FURIOUS! Do you know where I might be able to find an article regarding this child? If I have to, I will read every single one of these children's names who have lost their life due to anaphylaxis food allergies in front of the House of Representatives. These children will not be forgotten! I would greatly appreciate it if you would let me know where I might be able to find this article.
Take Care & Thank you,
Laura Duke
[email]7051996@bellsouth.net[/email]
[This message has been edited by Laura Duke (edited March 09, 2006).]
brace yourself
its hard to read this
[url="http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/Forum8/HTML/000439.html"]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/Forum8/HTML/000439.html[/url]
I would like to read the Tennessee House Bill that is in committee. Would someone please post a link?
Nathan's story is heart breaking! His story has made me physically sick! First, the School District was severely negligent! Second, there is not a price that you or anyone else can put on this precious child's life, because our children (and people) are "PRICELESS!" However, when horrible tragedies like this happen the person and/or School District in this case needed to be hit hard. I have found out the hard way that usually the only way you can get peoples attention is to hit them in the wallet! Where it hurts! I find it ridiculous that this School District didn't even have to pay out a million dollars for this child's life that they took!
Laura Duke
[email]7051996@bellsouth.net[/email]
Gayle:
The bill started off just to make all of the School Districts in the state of Tennessee work with Healthcare Providers and/or Pediatricians to come to a middle ground or a resolution to help protect these children with anaphylactic food allergies. However, when we proposed this legislation in front of the House about 2 1/2 weeks ago, the House had asked for other protocols that other States and/or School Districts have put in place. Therefore, I then started this other mission of trying to find all of the programs and protocols that have been put into place by other States and School Districts. The House of Representatives was given all of this information on Tuesday 03/07/2006 and we are now working to get a very detailed law in place. I would love to see Tennessee adopt the same program along the lines of what the state of Massachusetts has in place.
Laura Duke
[email]7051996@bellsouth.net[/email]
Laura,
I'm trying to find the actual bill on the Tennessee government website. Would you please post the link to the bill? Is it Senate Bill 2883? I can't find the bill text.
Would you please post the html link to the bill?
Thanks,
Gail
Edited to add the link: [url="http://www.legislature.state.tn.us"]www.legislature.state.tn.us[/url]
[i]"Bill Summary for *HB2442 / SB2883
This bill would require the department of education to develop guidelines for the management of students with life-threatening food allergies no later than January 1, 2007. These guidelines would include, but not be limited to:
(1) Education and training of school personnel on proper medication procedures and care for students with such allergies;
(2) Procedures for responding to allergic reactions;
(3) Development of individualized health care and action plans for every student with such an allergy; and
(4) Protocols to prevent allergen exposure.
Based on these guidelines, this bill would require each LEA to implement, by July 1, 2007, a management plan for students suffering from such allergies."[/i]
[This message has been edited by Gail W (edited March 09, 2006).]
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