Childcare facilities in Missouri may soon have more protective measures and training against severe food allergies.
The Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE) has established guidelines on what to do if a child experiences anaphylactic shock – a severe allergic reaction. A House bill that would enact what is known as “Elijah’s Law” was heard in committee Thursday. It would require childcare facilities to use those guidelines for training and to have a policy about food-borne allergy treatment.
Elijah Silvera, the bill’s namesake, was a three-year-old with a dairy allergy who died in 2017 after mistakenly eating grilled cheese. His EpiPen was not administered fast enough.
Similar legislation establishing Elijah’s Law has already passed in eight states, including Arkansas and Illinois.
Mandi Kerns is a Kansas City food allergy advocate and elementary educator who has a child with a severe food allergy. She said every year she had to train teachers and staff at her child’s school on how to treat and respond to severe allergies since they didn’t have formal training.
“No parent should have to fear their child may not come home from daycare due to a preventable allergic reaction,” Kerns said. “Elijah's law is a critical step towards ensuring childcare settings have the training protocols and awareness needed to protect the most vulnerable children.”
Rep. Emily Weber (D-Kansas City), a co-sponsor of the bill, said policies and rules will help providers know what steps to take in an emergency.
“In daycare facilities, there's not really regulations instilled upon them to have followed guidelines of what to do if a kid goes into anaphylactic shock,” Weber said.
Representative Anthony Ealy (D-Grandview), another co-sponsor, said having proper training is especially helpful in rural schools.
“I was surprised two years ago to find out you'll have students who would have to teach whoever the school nurse administrator was how to properly inject anything, for example, because they had no training on it," Ealy said. "I think that's shocking, especially if you're at a facility that may be at a distance from a local hospital.”
DESE would be required to create model policies on allergy prevention and response before July 1, 2027.
The bill has bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. A Republican and two Democratic representatives are sponsors.
“It's gone through the house all three years previously with full bipartisan support and then fell over in the Senate," said Rep. Jim Schulte (R-New Bloomfield), another co-sponsor of the bill. "But we're going to keep driving on with it.”
