Bill aims to help NY students with asthma
New legislation has been proposed to change the way New York schools respond to asthma attacks. Kenneth Wilkerson's 9-year-old son Kendell died in 2012 from an asthma attack at P.S. 97. Wilkerson says
News 12 Staff
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Apr 23, 2015, 10:30 PM
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Updated 3,299 days ago
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New legislation has been proposed to change the way New York schools respond to asthma attacks.
Kenneth Wilkerson's 9-year-old son Kendell died in 2012 from an asthma attack at P.S. 97. Wilkerson says he doesn't want any other parent to experience what he has gone through.
The state Department of Health says 34,000 children were hospitalized for asthma attacks between 2011 and 2013.
Wilkerson says officials at P.S. 97 knew about his son's asthma and didn't do enough to keep him safe.
He says his son's asthma pump and nebulizer were locked away in the nurse's office when the boy had an asthma attack and no one could find the key to that office.
Wilkerson says no one at his son's school notified him or called 911 when his son was clearly in distress.
Sen. Kristen Gillibrand's plan would provide federal grants to schools for training and equipping staff to respond to asthma attacks in children, reports say.
Wilkerson is suing both the Board of Education and the after school program his son attended.
