On Wednesday July 30 Governor Pat Quinn signed a new law (Bill HB5892) that makes it legal for a school official who is not a nurse to administer drugs to quell an allergic episode. This means Epi-Pens.
Just like Attorney General Lisa Madigan, we do not have a full-time nurse at our local school. This is part of the reason that she has chosen to work on expanding this law.
This new law adds to the previous law signed by Governor Quinn in August of 2011, House Bill 3294, the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, allowing school to stock and use epi-pens in the case of life-threatening allergic reactions. This past law only allowed the school nurse to administer medications. However, with shrinking budgets and the sharing of staff members between multiple schools, having a full-time school nurse has not always been manageable.
The new law allows a trained individual to administer epi-pens, the Illinois State Board of Education officials will draft rules on the training.
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