Seated beside the tearful mother of a girl who died in school of an allergic reaction to peanuts, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) signed legislation Thursday intended to help schools come to the aid of such students.
The two bills were inspired, in part, by the death of 7-year-old Amarria Johnson, who died at her Chesterfield County elementary school in January.
“Virginia must do everything it can to ensure the safety of our young people while they are in school,” McDonnell said at a bill-signing ceremony in Richmond. “This legislation and the money in the recently passed budget will help prevent another tragedy like Amarria Johnson’s from occurring in a public school in the commonwealth. Having a plan in place and access to epinephrine in schools, where children spend half their day, is critical.”
Commonly referred to as the “EpiPen bills,” the measures direct local school boards to establish policies for keeping epinephrine pens on hand at every school, so that a school nurse or other employee could administer it to any student thought to be having an anaphylactic reaction. Henceforth, it was announced, the legislation will be known as “Amarria’s Law.”
This is one bill I can sure support. I have grandchildren with severe shellfish allergies and I had a colleague die from a hornet sting. The death of my friend happened in less than 15 minutes. His physician had told him he didn’t think he needed an EpiPen. It was a nasty death. Jack’s throat swelled shut. He was dead before the rescue squad could get to his home in Marshall.
Peanuts, shellfish, and other etibles can do the same thing, depending on one’s tolerance. It is also nothing to play with. Allergies are strange. One day you can just have swelling. The next time it happens you can die. Anything we can do to save people’s lives, so much the better. This is one time I am going to say Good Job! to the legislators and governor.
