University of Victoria to equip security staff with EpiPens

The University of Victoriais taking a new approach to dealing with people who experience anaphylactic reactions.

The University's campus security services says it respondsto more than 400 medical emergency calls every year, and many of them are allergy related.

Now, security staff at the campus will be equipped with a stock of EpiPensepinephrine-delivering devices that cansave lives if someone on campussuffers a reaction and isn't carrying medication.

"First year students are just an incredibly vulnerable population for anaphylaxis," saidUVicFood ServicedietitianNicoleFetterly, who started the initiativecalled Stock Epi.

"They're in a new environment. Everything's new, they're feeding themselves.They could easily forget theirEpiPenin theirbackpack or purse."

Fetterlysaid the program to her knowledge is the first of its kind on a B.C. university campus.

Anaphylaxisis a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death.

Fetterly had been working on campus, labelling food items that may contain allergens, when she heard aboutepinephrine stocks being introduced to universities in New Brunswick and Ontario.

In 2015, an Ontariostudent at Queens University died due to a severe allergic reaction when there was alack of epinephrine on handto treat it quickly.

Fetterly and her colleagues wanted to avoid a similar situation in B.C., and partnered with the university's student health services and campus securityto start the program.

Now, the UVicsecurity team hasaccess to sixEpiPens threeadult, threejunior doses andhave all been trained on how to recognize anaphylaxis and administer the medicine.

The training is managed by a registered nurse from student health servicesand is set to be repeated yearly.

Fetterlystressed that Stock Epidoes not replace the need forstudentswith potentially life-threatening allergies to always carry their own epinephrine auto-injectors.

With files from All Points West