Area schools in the Texas Panhandle implement unassigned EpiPens

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Keeping children safe in all scenarios during the school year is a goal for every school district.

River Road ISD, as well as Sunray ISD, are two districts that have implemented EpiPens for kids with a known or unknown allergy.

River Road’s district nurse says having proper medication in case of an emergency eases her worries for taking care of students.

“If there was only one EpiPen or none at all, you could tell there’s potential that a student could be harmed or not taken care of properly, so luckily I feel better that we can provide that,” said Mendi Seymour-Permenter.

Seymour-Permenter emphasizes that the EpiPens can be used on a student with or without an unknown allergy.

“Those who have the allergies, most of them will bring their own EpiPens and of course by all means we’ll use their EpiPen versus another one, but it does allow those others who don’t have the means to feel more safe in the school,” said Seymour-Permenter.

While it is unlikely a child will have an allergic reaction, even being unaware they are allergic to something, being prepared could make a huge difference.

“Schools do a pretty good job at keeping certain food out like peanuts and other allergens, but every now and then kids bring things that they don’t tell their parents or they sneak something in or they have a candy or something they don’t know. It can be so catastrophic and it’s something so easily treated that you’re gonna wanna have something nearby,” said Pediatrician for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Dr. Anders Leverton.

A small step schools in our area are making to ensure every kid is taken care of as much as the next.

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