The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A new law that would require the reporting to the state of sudden cardiac events in children is expected to help save children’s lives.
The bill, called the “Children’s Sudden Cardiac Events Reporting Act,” was co-sponsored by state Assemblyman Joseph Egan, D-New Brunswick, a member of the 17th Legislative District delegation.
In a press release about the bill signing, Egan said, “From a public health perspective, these measures are necessary to improve the efforts of schools, families, policymakers, and health care professionals. Ultimately our goal is to help prevent sudden cardiac events in children and boost survival rates.”
About 7,000 children die from sudden cardiac events annually nationwide, Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, D-Elizabeth – also a co-sponsor – said in the release.
“For the families they left behind, there may never be enough we can do to get a better grasp on this silent killer, but requiring defibrillators in schools, like we’ve done, and boosting our efforts to monitor this disease is a good starting point,” she said.
The law “requires the reporting of children’s sudden cardiac events and establishes a statewide database as a repository for the information,” according to the release.
The events are to be reported to the state Department of Health, according to the release.
