Murphy, Buchwald Law to Allow School Bus Drivers to Use EpiPens
A new law that allows school bus drivers and school personnel provided by outside contractors to administer epinephrine auto injectors was hailed Wednesday by two local state legislators, parents and school officials as a potential life-saving measure.
State Sen. Terrence Murphy (R-Yorktown) and Assemblyman David Buchwald (D-White Plains), the sponsors of the bills in the Senate and Assembly, respectively, were joined by parents, children and school officials outside Chappaqua’s Douglas Grafflin Elementary School to announce the law’s introduction. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation over the summer.
Auto-injectors can reverse the effects of serious food allergies within seconds after it is administered into a person’s thigh.
“We’re going to make sure that our kids can arrive home safely from school without allergic reactions, and if they do, they have the ability to be saved,” Murphy said.
Buchwald said the major concern has been school buses, where children may pull out snacks or sandwiches in a limited area. That can trigger serious health episodes, such as respiratory or cardiac arrest, for children who may be allergic to certain foods. With an estimated 5.9 million children suffering from food allergies, the need for the driver to be allowed to give the injection is crucial, he said.
Until now, bus drivers were not permitted to use the injectors.
“For a great many children suffering from an allergy, having an EpiPen or another kind of epinephrine auto-injector available and having someone available to administer it can be the difference between life and death,” Buchwald said.
Murphy said local parents, such as Stacey Saiontz, whose son Jared is a four-grader at Grafflin Elementary School and is allergic to 14 different foods, brought the problem to his and Buchwald’s attention. The parents and children made trips to Albany to lobby legislators statewide, he said.
The measure was unanimously passed in the Senate and gained approval in the Assembly by a 139-1 margin.
Until now, most children with serious allergies were forced to be driven to and from school to avoid being exposed to a potential health crisis.
“This makes it possible for my son Jared and all the people here today to ride the bus,” Saiontz said.
The idea for the bill was brought to the legislators’ attention following an incident in Agawam, Mass. in October 2014 where a high school student’s life was saved in when the bus driver administered epinephrine following a severe allergic reaction.
Chappaqua seventh-grader Georgia Rappaport, who also suffers from multiple food allergies, said even though there are rules against eating on the bus that is often ignored.
“There’s always going to be a kid on the bus that has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and all you have to rely on is your friend who may not know how to inject an EpiPen,” Rappaport said.
Chappaqua Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christine Ackerman said the target date for the district to have bus drivers and the other personnel trained is Dec. 10. During the next few months, the board of education will be discussing and devising a policy to determine whether the first aid kit in each bus will be equipped with an EpiPen, among other issues, she said.
Ackerman lauded the local parents and students whose lobbying efforts helped pass the law.
“This extraordinary effort by our children not only will shape their own experiences in our district but in districts throughout the state, and because of their efforts, kids in our community will be able to take advantage of a right and a privilege that they didn’t have long ago,” Ackerman said.
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