Shot in the arm for student-health bills

The Senate Education Standing Committee gave the nod Tuesday to two bills aimed at addressing student health in public schools.

• SB8, sponsored by Sen. Patrice Arent, D-South Cottonwood, would allow diabetic students to carry and self-administer emergency medication when parents request it. It also would allow trained teachers and staff to administer the drug, glucagon, in a diabetic emergency.

"If a diabetic child has a severe low (in blood sugar) they can't help themselves," said Kearns resident Natalie Rodgers, whose 6-year old daughter has diabetes. "A lot of times they are unconscious, incoherent and if prolonged they risk seizures or they could go into a coma."

Under current law, students are unable to carry or administer emergency diabetic medication. And in the event of an emergency they would have to wait for parents or medical professionals to arrive before being treated.

"This would be a huge peace of mind for me, but it's what I would expect," Rodgers said. "It's huge for our family — it means we'll sleep better at night and rest much easier during the day."

• SB48, sponsored by Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, sets up a task force to study issues and make recommendations surrounding school nurses in Utah — a matter brought to the forefront by a Tooele mother whose daughter overdosed on asthma medication in a school where no nurse was on hand.

"It should not be the responsibility of an underpaid schoolteacher or secretary" to offer medical attention, said Paula Tuck, whose petition has garnered some 5,000 signatures in as many as 19 counties.

Utah has 129 school nurses, or one nurse for every 6,127 students — the nation's highest ratio, said Deborah Milan-Niler, president of the Utah School Nurses Association. The recommended ratio is 1-to-750 students. Some Utah nurses work with 14 schools at a time; some drive three hours between jobs in rural areas. Requests for complex nursing services increase every year.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said few task forces would be funded this year, and this one might not make the cut. He suggested drafting a substitute to require the public schools appropriations committee to study the matter because funding is central to it.

But Mayne said his bill would better involve stakeholders. "We think this is an opportunity to be creative, think outside the box, and I don't think that's in the purview of an appropriations committee."

Both bills were forwarded to the full Senate for debate.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com; terickson@desnews.com