MONTREAL — The Departments of Education, Health and Human Services are currently working on a framework of reference for school care, The Canadian Press has learned. Part of this educational guide deals with the distribution and administration of medications in emergency situations, including epinephrine injectors, known by the brand name Epipen.

This framework would also recommend that every school have an injector; Currently, some schools have one, but students with allergies are legally responsible for bringing theirs to school.

This measure follows a petition tabled in the National Assembly by Sylvie D’Amours, CAQ MP for Mirabel, demanding that the responsibility for injector fittings now rests with primary schools. However, CAQ members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Culture and Education refused to take up Wednesday’s letter due to work and reflections already being done on the issue, the prime minister’s office said in an email.

Currently, the food supply in schools is controlled to avoid the presence of allergenic food, both in cafeterias and vending machines, as well as in snacks brought by students or meals offered by catering services, as the press service of the press office via email clarified Ministry of Education.

Note that nine foods are responsible for about 90% of allergic reactions, Allergies Quebec points out, making this procedure “utopian.” “It’s almost impossible to be locked out there,” says Dominique Seigneur, the organization’s director of communications and development.

Some school service centers and school boards have also implemented intervention protocols to respond in the event of anaphylactic shock.

However, no universal measure is applied at the provincial level, which is the only one in the country that has not enacted legislation in this direction.

Case manager wanted

According to Allergies Québec, which has been campaigning for the adoption of a standardized and expanded framework for more than fifteen years, each school is currently coping with the situation as best it can.

This results in “questionable practices, such as keeping auto-injectors in the school office rather than within easy reach of the allergy sufferer, or even ineffective measures such as banning certain foods and isolating “students with allergies during meals”. Read an open letter co-signed by the organization to mark Quebec Food Allergy Day on March 21st.

Allergies Québec notes a “strong interest” in the issue from the political class of all parties, given that an estimated 75,000 school children have one or more food allergies and about one in five severe allergies occurred in schools.

“Our file is well received and no one objects to this desire to mentor young people, but it’s like we don’t have a file holder. We fail to have the leadership to move things forward. It’s mysterious,” Ms. Lord laments.

In June 2018, the then-opposition Parti Québécois party introduced a bill for Quebec to legislate to introduce a universal protocol in the event of a severe allergic reaction. The Minister of Health at the time, the liberal Gaétan Barrette, had himself raised the idea of ​​equipping all schools with an epipen.

In 2019, CAQ Health Minister Danielle McCann opposed the introduction of a single protocol, preferring instead “a guide to best practice,” reported daily Le Soleil.

“Common sense”

Like defibrillators, which are becoming available in more and more public places, or even fire extinguishers in case of fire, injectors should be available for school children, as should first-aid kits in case of minor injuries, the Association of Autonomous Parents’ Councils of Quebec (RCPAQ) is convinced. .

“It’s a good idea on the ground, I see no argument against it,” commented Sylvain Martel, RCPAQ’s strategic adviser and spokesperson, in an interview with The Canadian Press. There are ideas that don’t take years to make sense of.”

However, Mr Martel believes it is wrong to think that making epinephrine injectors available in schools would take the burden of carrying one off students, as the petition suggests.

“It’s a very good idea to have one in schools in case a student’s is outdated, but remember that kids who really need an epipen will be carrying one around, going on the bus or visiting friends.”

Between 6 and 8% of primary school children have a food allergy.

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This story was produced with financial support from the Meta Exchange and The Canadian Press for News.