Edmond Public Schools Launches New Health Program To Treat Students In Respiratory Distress

Edmond Public Schools has launched a new health program to help treat students in respiratory distress.

The state legislature passed a law in 2019 that would allow schools to provide rescue inhalers.

The district said they have trained staff members for these types of emergencies.

If your child has asthma, the district asks that you notify your child’s school and provide an action plan from the child’s doctor. They also encouraged you send your child with a personal inhaler to school if they have asthma.

If you don’t want your child to receive this treatment in the case of respiratory distress, notify your child’s nurse in writing.

Edmond Public Schools Nurse Facilitator Valerie Johnson released the following letter to parents and guardians:

Dear Parent(s) and/or Guardian(s),

We are writing to inform you about a new school health program that will make schools safer for students. In 2019, Oklahoma passed a new law that allows your child's school to

maintain and administer an albuterol inhaler to treat students who experience sudden life-

threatening respiratory distress while at school. Albuterol is an inhaled medication that quickly opens the tubes that move air into and out of the lungs making it easier to breathe. This

medication is safe and effective. Because an asthma attack can happen at any time, having quick access to albuterol is important to make schools safe for children with asthma.

Multiple staff members at your child's school have been trained to quickly and safely respond to respiratory emergencies. While school staff will make every effort to contact parents before giving albuterol, the law allows them to administer albuterol in an emergency without prior parental contact.

If your child has asthma, we urge you to notify your child's school and provide them with an asthma action plan from your child's doctor. Because the stock albuterol inhaler is not intended to replace a child's personal inhaler, we also encourage you to send a personal albuterol inhaler for use at school if your child has asthma.

If you do NOT want your child to receive an albuterol treatment from the school's supply in the event of respiratory distress, please notify your child's school nurse in writing.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your school's health office.