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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 25, 2021 04:31 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Christopher B. Quinn |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | DOMinate Epilepsy - Seizure Recognition Legislation (Former HB1820) |
| In 2019 I was contacted by a constituent whose grandson, Dominic Rosini, battles a rare form of epilepsy. Before beginning treatment, Dominic Rosini was suffering as many as 1,000 seizures a day. He developed multiple seizure types. Only a fraction of the seizures Dominic experienced were tonic clonic/grand mal seizures, the convulsive type often recognized by the general public to be a seizure. Dominic’s grandmother is a public school teacher, as was his mother before staying home to care for her children. With Dominic now in kindergarten, as teachers, they expressed to me their concern regarding the need for the education of our school nurses and professional employees on seizure recognition and first aid. Last session, I introduced House Bill 1820, which would enable all school personnel to be trained in seizure recognition and response by an approved Department of Health (DOH) online course, and make the completion of such course creditable for professional continuing education credit. The DOH approved online course will be provided by a national nonprofit foundation with an understanding of epilepsy and seizure disorders. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, the leading national education, support and advocacy organization for those with epilepsy and their families, one in 26 Americans will develop epilepsy at some point in their lifetime. More people live with epilepsy than with autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy – combined. More than 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with epilepsy every year, and one-third of those with the disease will live with uncontrollable seizures because existing medications and treatments do not work for them. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation to protect Pennsylvania school children living with epilepsy. |
Introduced as HB416