COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina teenager and her mom are advocating for change in schools to improve seizure safety plans. Their mission to help students with epilepsy has helped inspire legislation at the State House.
Cassidy Doss, a high school senior from Rock Hill, was diagnosed with epilepsy at seven years old and told News19 she has seizures at least three times a week.
“My heart breaks for her every time,” her mom Lisa Stout said. Doss added that "it's hard for me to kind of like, talk to people because I'm scared I'm going to have a seizure.”
Those seizures often happen at school, which Stout said led to frustrations with how they were handled. “Even the nurses unnecessarily calling an ambulance with every single seizure, which you know, for someone that has epilepsy is not necessary all the time,” explained Stout.
The determined mother said she pushed back on the school's emergency plan to better tailor it to her daughter's needs. Now, they hope to help other families get personalized plans in all South Carolina schools.
Stout said that under current law, only school nurses are allowed to administer emergency seizure medication, but the legislation they helped write would change that.
House Bill 3464 could require schools to work with parents to create safety plans for their children if they have epilepsy. By state law, schools are required to have emergency plans, but Stout said this legislation would make them more personalized.
“It’s needed," Dawn MacAdams with the South Carolina Association of School Nurses told News19. "It’s needed for all our students with a chronic health condition.”
MacAdams explained that not every school is equipped with a nurse, so this bill could help fill the gap by training other school staff on the emergency plans.
“One of our tasks at some point is to come up with a universal training so however, we do it in Richland School District Two, they have the same material to train in Barnwell or Aiken,” shared MacAdams.
The "safe seizures school act" passed the House in January. Doss and her mom hope the Senate will take it up soon so it can have a chance at becoming law this year. Doss said the bill, “will be a good thing for other people with epilepsy to be able to not have to fight like we did.”
If the bill becomes law, it could also allow for all school staff in the state to get free training on seizure recognition and first aid from the Epilepsy Foundation.