Wouldn’t News Be If the Committee Put Students Last?

 

Senate Health Committee Votes to Put Students First

Epilepsy Treatment Legislation from Senator Huff Passes Final Senate Policy Test

SACRAMENTO: The Senate Health Committee has voted to approve legislation that will help protect nearly 94,000 California children who suffer from epilepsy. SB 161, authored by Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), would authorize all California school districts to provide school employee volunteers with emergency medical training to provide emergency medical assistance to pupils with epilepsy who suffer a seizure while on campus.

“This is a bi-partisan legislative effort that has the support of physicians, school districts and thousands of parents of children who suffer from epilepsy,” said Senator Huff following the hearing. “My legislation allows school employees, who volunteer and are trained, to administer life-saving medication when a child suffers an epileptic seizure. I’m pleased that the Senate Health Committee is putting the health and safety needs of our children first.”

Children who suffer from epilepsy are at risk of dangerous and prolonged seizures and must have immediate access to life-saving emergency medication. Diastat Acudial is a pre-dosed preparation of diazepam gel and is the only standard, out-of-hospital treatment that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to successfully treat prolonged seizures. It is also the only FDA approved medication that can be administered by non-medical personnel. If the medication is not administered within a matter of minutes following a seizure, children can begin to suffer severe brain damage that can even lead to death.

School teachers and staff were trained and allowed to administer this safe and effective emergency treatment for more than ten years, without any adverse medical incident. But this practice abruptly ended two years ago when a nursing education consultant to the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) arbitrarily decided that school nurses were not authorized to train or supervise anyone to administer Diastat.

-30-