After 12 Years, Advocates and Lawmakers
Secure Win for 218,000 Schoolchildren
MCLEAN,
Va., Sept. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FARE (Food
Allergy Research & Education) thanks food allergy advocates,
and Assemblymember Linda B.
Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan), State Senator Cordell Cleare (D-30), Governor Kathy Hochul, and their staffs for passing
Senate Bill S209A, an epinephrine auto-injector teacher training
bill, signed into law on Friday evening. The tireless efforts of
our advocates were instrumental in getting this bill, a version of
which was originally introduced more than 12 years ago, passed.
Senate Bill S209A goes into effect immediately and requires
that the state's commissioner of health provide the state's more
than 212,000 teachers in all New
York public and non-public elementary and secondary schools,
including charter schools, that are authorized to provide
epinephrine auto-injectors, written information on how to recognize
anaphylaxis and use an epinephrine auto-injector.
"On behalf of the more than 218,000 New York state students with life-threatening
food allergies, FARE is grateful for the work of Senator Cleare,
Assemblymember Rosenthal, Governor Hochul, and advocates like
Stacey and Jared Saiontz and
Jill Mindlin and Maya Konoff," said Sung
Poblete, RN, PhD, CEO of FARE. "For more than 12 years they
fought an uphill battle to make our classrooms safer. With today's
bill signing, we celebrate their determination that will ultimately
protect millions of food allergic children in the years that
follow."
This new teacher training law ensures that students are better
protected and safer in the place where they spend most of their day
– the classroom. FARE Advocates Jill Mindlin and Stacey Saiontz, parents of school age children,
led the decade-plus long effort to pass this legislation. "Thanks
to the hard work of advocates and lawmakers, all teachers in
New York State will now be
provided with the knowledge of how to save a student's life if they
experience anaphylaxis in school. This law will make a huge
difference in the lives of all NY families with school aged
children living with food allergies," says Mindlin.
Saiontz added that "today's bill means parents can send their
food allergic children to school knowing their teachers are trained
to protect them. And kids can go to school and learn, less anxious
about their ever-present, life threatening, food allergies."
Saiontz and Mindlin were joined over the last decade by many
advocates who shared their passion including Patty Albert, Sara
Albert, Zara Atal,
Lauren Bowler, Dina Cannistraci, Georgina Cornago, Toni Guidosi, Sue Kelly, Rose & Julian Ostrow, Karen
Palmer, Liz Rappaport,
Thomas Silvera, Jon Terry and Toni
Taylor from the Allergy Advocacy Association, and
others.
Maya Konoff, Jill Mindlin's daughter, who first lobbied for
this measure when she was in elementary school and is now a college
graduate, shared, "There are a lot of things that can be difficult
and anxiety inducing when you're growing up with food allergies.
School should not be one of those things. This bill is such an
important step in ensuring that all kids with food allergies can
safely attend school."
Over the 12-year lobbying effort, food allergy advocates were
joined by teachers, who wanted this essential information, to help
build momentum for this law. FARE anticipates working with these
involved teachers, food allergy advocates and other stakeholders to
ensure the Commissioner of Health's materials are easy to
understand and contain examples of different epinephrine
auto-injectors.
Jared Saiontz, who has 26
anaphylactic food allergies and has been advocating for this
bill in Albany every year since
the age of four, added, "Thank you to our NY legislators for making
the teacher training law a reality. As a student living with many
life-threatening food allergies, I know this law will allow all
students like me to thrive in school without fear, knowing that the
teachers around them have the tools and training to protect
us."
About FARE: FARE (Food Allergy Research &
Education) is the nation's leading non-profit engaged in food
allergy advocacy as well as the largest private funder of food
allergy research. FARE's innovative education, advocacy and
research initiatives transform the future of food allergy through
new and improved treatments and prevention strategies, effective
policies and legislation, and novel approaches to managing the
disease. To learn more, visit: www.foodallergy.org.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fare-celebrates-new-teacher-training-law-in-new-york-301931213.html
SOURCE FARE