School district adopting 'Epinephrine policy'

The Glenwood Community School district is implementing a policy throughout the district that would allow authorized school personnel to respond to life-threatening allergic reactions.

The district’s new protocol, dubbed the “epinephrine policy” would apply to any student or individual present in a district facility both while school is in session and during any school-sponsored extracurricular activiy who is having a severe allergic reaction. A district’s school nurse or another trained and authorized person would administer an epinephrine dose via an auto-injector or “EpiPen” from the school’s supply to a student or other individual who is having an anaphylactic reaction.

It is estimated one in 13 children in the U.S. lives with a food allergy that puts them at risk for anaphylaxis. Avoiding allergic triggers is the only sure way to prevent anaphylaxis but the fact is that allergic reactions can and do happen. A survey of more than 6,000 schools revealed a total of 919 anaphylactic events among students and staff during the 2013-2014 school year.

The EpiPen shot, which is injected intramuscularly in the thigh at the first sign of a severe allergic reaction, is the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis. According to the food allergy guidelines developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, if experiencing anaphylaxis, a person should use an epinephrine auto-injector and seek immediate emergency medical care.

Glenwood Superintendent Devin Embray said the district’s two elementary schools and the middle school have had a “nut free” area in their cafeterias for nearly a decade but there’s never been an official policy covering staff response to such allergic reactions and the use of epinephrine.

Students with severe allergies, Embray added, typically in the past have provided their own EpiPens while in school, either on their person or stored in the building’s nurse’s office.

“If a student had allergies that were very severe, they’d carry it with them at all times,” Embray said. “So if a student went down and we had them identified as a student with an EpiPen, then they (staff) would be able to administer that because it was one of them.”

The new policy would provide each building with a twin-pack EpiPen supply back up in each nurse’s office. EpiPens4Schools, a free nationwide program offered by pharmaceutical company Mylan, will provide each building with the auto-injectors at no cost to the district.

Embray said the district’s legal team is currently reviewing the policy’s language with it expected to be approved by the school board at the February board meeting.