School personnel across Illinois are adapting to a new state law that requires districts to have an emergency protocol to deal with asthma emergencies. Under the new law anyone who works with students must be trained to handle asthma emergencies.
All children with asthma must have a written "asthma action plan" at the school as well. Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the legislation in August and it went into effect Jan. 1.
Maureen Damitz is spokeswoman for the Illinois Asthma Consortium, which lobbied for the law. She says nearly 14% of children have asthma, but more than 76% of those children don't have their asthma under control.
Damitz says advocates will now lobby for a state-wide policy requiring school nurses to stock the drug used in inhalers.
