HARRISBURG, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A six-year-old Chester County boy is the inspiration behind legislation introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that would help teachers recognize and respond to epileptic seizures.
The bill is called "DOMinate Epilepsy," in honor of Dominic Rosini from West Whiteland.
Delaware County State Rep. Chris Quinn introduced the bill after he met Dominic through the boy's grandmother.
"To see this little guy when they told me his story, it was just heart-wrenching," said Quinn. "The grandmother, Beth (Scolis), literally said, 'What can I do, I am a public school teacher, why wasn't I aware of this?'"
Rosini's family pointed Quinn to training offered by the Epilepsy Foundation. His bill, which has cleared committee, would allow public school teachers to take that training to satisfy their continuing education requirements, to learn how to respond to a seizure and to recognize the signs of epilepsy.
"If you can bring the teachers up to speed on what to look for, they can make the nurses, they can make the parents, they can make others aware of what's going on," said Quinn. "Many times, teachers are the first people that see various things from our youth."
He said the Epilepsy Foundation pays for the training so there is no cost to taxpayers, and he noted more people live with epilepsy than autism, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy combined.