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Health Bills Ease Student accessThe Proposals Would Allow Children to Self-Administer Potentially Life-Saving Asthma and Allergy Treatment at School.

Posted on: Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 18:02 CST

By Martha Stoddard

LINCOLN -- Kathy Poehling has been known to tuck inhalers into her children's coat pockets along with a stern admonition to keep them hidden from teachers.

The Omaha mother of three children with asthma said school officials frowned on students carrying inhalers and kept student medications locked in the school office.

But Poehling also worried about a severe asthma attack hitting her children at the playground, which was a block and a half from their Catholic school.

Her children no longer would have to sneak around if the Legislature passes a bill introduced Tuesday by State Sen. Abbie Cornett of Bellevue and 28 cosponsors.

Legislative Bill 1148 would allow students with asthma or life- threatening allergies to have medication with them at school or school events. It would allow students to give the medication to themselves.

The bill would require that both the student's doctor and parents approve before a student could carry such medication.

Jerome Townsend hasn't tried to sneak a glucose monitor or insulin supplies into his son's school. But the Papillion father can relate to Poehling's fears and her desire to make potentially life- saving treatment more easily available at school.

He's watching another bill, introduced Tuesday by State Sen. Nancy Thompson of La Vista.

LB 1107 would allow students with diabetes, with permission from parents and doctors, to manage their own condition. The bill would relieve schools of liability in such cases.

Townsend said his son has lived with diabetes since age 2. At 10, he knows as much or more about managing his disease as the adults in his school.

But he still must go to the school office three times a day or more to test his blood sugar and adjust the insulin in his pump.

Thompson's proposal would allow the boy to do his own care without interrupting classroom activities. It would allow him to respond immediately if his blood sugar dropped to dangerous levels.

Officials with Nebraska school administrators and school board organizations said they have not had time to study either bill. But they raised concerns about how the proposals might work and whether schools would be held liable for any problems that arise.

Andrea Holka, executive director of Attack on Asthma, said Nebraska is one of a handful of states without a law or policy allowing students to treat themselves in asthma and allergy emergencies. As a result, she said, policies adopted by schools vary widely.

She wants to see the situation change, both from her professional position and as the mother of one child with asthma and a second child with asthma and allergies to tree-grown nuts.

Especially for the second child, she said, time is critical. Exposure to severe allergies can trigger anaphylaxis, a systemic reaction that can close the airway. Having an epinephrine shot immediately available can save lives.

"You often have seconds to offset the deadly reaction," she said.

Asthma typically offers a little more time but still requires immediate treatment, Holka said.

The dangers posed by asthma and allergies are not unknown in Nebraska. In 1996, two children died from asthma in Omaha schools. Last year, schools statewide reported 44 asthma or allergy episodes they had to treat with emergency measures.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

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