TORONTO – The city of Hamilton’s board of health voted recently to investigate a widespread strategy that could have the city distributing epinephrine auto-injectors to area restaurants.
Twelve-year-old Maia Santarelli-Gallo from Stony Creek collapsed suddenly at a Burlington mall in March after eating an ice cream cone. She died that same day.
“There was a woman administering CPR and within minutes she was injected with an epi-pen – the epi pen belonged to someone in the food court,” Leah Santerelli-Gallo, Maia’s mom, said.
She said her daughter was diagnosed with a very mild dairy allergy when she was two, but it was never serious enough to carry an epinephrine auto-injector.
“She would eat ice cream, she loved pizza, she could eat the cheese on the pizza, certain things she would stay away if it bothered her, but ice cream she ate often,” she said.
Now, in response to Maia’s story, Hamilton wants every food outlet to be equipped with an epinephrine auto-injector in case of an emergency.
But According to Dr. Susan Waserman, director at McMasters Adverse Reactions clinic and the president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the city will be faced with challenges.
“The challenges will be that there will certainly be a lot of turnover in food service staff,” says Waserman. “Who is going to know when to use the epinephrine auto injector- there is no question that we need an educational piece to accompany this initiative.”
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Waserman will be working on a feasibility study with Hamilton’s Medical officer of Health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson.
Waserman says many people underestimate the risk of having an acute allergic reaction.
“Research and personal experience for me as an allergist has taught me that not enough people carry their Epinephrine auto injector around reliably,” Waserman said.
The Canadian restaurant and food services association says it’s a bad idea to require regulations epinephrine auto-injectors at food outlets.
“Well I think it is more complicated than they think it is,” says Stephanie Jones, Vice President of Ontario for the Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Association. “In terms of ensuring that epi pens are up to date, they do expire.”
Jones says making sure that staff are trained in how to administer them could be a liability and says it could lead to a false sense of security.
Laurie Harada, Executive Director at Anaphylaxis Canada said she would like to see a pilot project in Hamilton to determine if the concept could work.
“What is really important is having input from key stakeholders from the restaurants, medical community, patient community and even consumers,” she said.
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