SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1233        FILED ON: 1/20/2011

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 218

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Mark C. Montigny

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to medical emergency response plans for schools.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1233        FILED ON: 1/20/2011

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 218

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 2295 OF 2009-2010.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

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An Act relative to medical emergency response plans for schools.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

                Section 1. Chapter 69 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 8 the following section:-

                Section 8A. (a) Each school committee and commonwealth charter school board of trustees shall ensure that every school under its jurisdiction has a written medical emergency response plan to reduce the incidence of life-threatening emergencies and promote efficient responses to such emergencies. The plan shall be in addition to or shall include the multihazard evacuation plan required by section 363 of chapter 159 of the acts of 2000.

Each plan shall include:

                                (1) a method for establishing a rapid communication system linking all parts of the school campus, including outdoor facilities and practice fields, to the emergency medical services system and protocols to clarify when the emergency medical services system and other emergency contact people must be called;

                                (2) a determination of emergency medical service response time to any location on campus;

                                (3) a list of relevant contacts and telephone numbers with a protocol indicating when each person must be called, including names of experts to help with post-event support;

                                (4) a method to efficiently direct emergency medical services personnel to any location on campus, including to the location of available rescue equipment;

                                (5) safety precautions to prevent injuries in classrooms and on the playground, including identifying students, faculty, and staff with medical conditions that place them at risk for life-threatening conditions and training personnel to provide the appropriate response for those conditions; and

                                (6) a method of providing access to training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid for teachers, athletic coaches and trainers and other school staff, which may include training high school students in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Plans shall be developed in consultation with the school nurse, school athletic team physicians, coaches and trainers, and the local emergency medical services agency, as appropriate.  Schools shall practice the response sequence at the beginning of each school year and periodically throughout the year and evaluate and modify the plan as needed. Plans shall be submitted annually to the department of elementary and secondary education on or before September 1.

                (b) The department of elementary and secondary education, in consultation with the department of public health, shall develop a model medical emergency response plan in order to promote best practices.  In developing the model plan, the department shall refer to research prepared by the american heart association, the american academy of pediatrics and other relevant organizations that indentifies the essential components of a medical emergency response plan.

In addition, the department shall: 

                                (1) provide technical assistance to school districts and commonwealth charter schools in the development of medical emergency response plans; and

                                (2) provide incentives for the purchase of automatic external defibrillators by school districts and commonwealth charter schools and promote standards for the implementation of a school-based automatic external defibrillator program that uses trained school staff and volunteers and that is coordinated, to the greatest extent possible, with existing public access defibrillation programs established under section 12V1/2 of chapter 112.

                Section 2.  The department of elementary and secondary education shall submit a report to the clerks of the House of Representatives and Senate and the joint committee on education on the success of this initiative, and the number of schools that opt out of instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation as required by section 1 of chapter 71,on or before July 1, 2011.