A new Florida law now mandates that school boards require public and charter elementary schools to train employees in how to recognize whether a student might be having a life-threatening allergic reaction -- and how to administer medication to treat it.
No such training was required for children who attend before and after-school programs on campus until now.
Jacksonville mother Elani Wiest helped push through the legislation, advocating for children like hers: 8-year-old Philip and 4-year-old Leani.
“When he was about 6 or 7 months old, we gave him a piece of pie, and he started turning red and he swelled up,” Elani says of Philip, who was then diagnosed with a severe allergy to wheat, eggs, milk, sesame and tree nuts. “As new parents, it was very terrifying.”
Elani said it was worrying to imagine would could happen as Philip got older and was eating in the cafeteria at school or at a birthday party.
“My son licked a cookie that had egg and wheat in it two Christmases ago and went into anaphylaxis from just licking a cookie,” Elani said.
When Leani was born, Elani and her husband knew she might have a severe food allergy too, so they had her checked.
“At 9 months old, allergists advised an in-office challenge with peanut butter since her brother had so many allergies,” Elani explained. “They gave her the first dose, and she immediately went into anaphylaxis.”
Turns out Leani is allergic to peanut butter and sunflower.
“That is much harder to navigate because it’s not a top allergen, so it’s not always labeled, and it’s creeping into things you don’t imagine like sprinkles and chocolate chips,” Elani said of her daughter’s sunflower allergy.
The allergies meant years of stress for Elani every time her children left the house.
“When I’m away from my kids, I always have my watch pinging me when the school needs to reach me, parents, caregivers; it’s a constant anxiety,” Elani said.
So she did not hesitate when another mom, Sherry Isler, who lives in Central Florida, called her, asking for help convincing state lawmakers to create legislation to require an allergy plan to protect children like their own.
Isler discovered the lapse in training when she dropped off her son before school, and the caregiver told her she had no training to administer an EpiPen to Lincoln if he had a life-threatening allergy.
The two worked with their local lawmakers to change that, and it worked.
“It’s such a big win for us,” Elani said. “My son can now go to a club after school, and if he is having a reaction, there should be someone who knows how to recognize it and how to use epinephrine.”
Elani said that while she will always worry about her children eating something that could trigger a life-threatening reaction, she feels so much better knowing that when they’re on campus, she’s not the only one who will know how to use life-saving medication, should they need it.
The law was passed a few months ago, but it will take some time before the training is available for school staff.
The board of education, in consultation with the Department of Health, has been given until Oct. 1 to create an approved training curriculum.