[Trigger Warning]
The Muellers, a household from central Wisconsin, traveled to Madison on Wednesday to satisfy with lawmakers and advocate for a invoice that will mandate epinephrine auto-injector coaching and availability for all first responders. This effort follows the tragic lack of their son, Andrew, in late 2024 attributable to an unknown peanut allergy. They’re working to make sure that first responders are geared up to deal with related life-threatening emergencies.
When the household known as 911 for assist for Andrew final November, regulation enforcement officers had been the primary on the scene, however they didn’t have epinephrine. This important first-line therapy for anaphylaxis was unavailable within the essential moments earlier than paramedics might arrive. Andrew’s father, Mark Mueller, delivered an pressing message to legislators: “We urge you to behave now so no mother and father stand the place we’re standing right now.”
The Muellers imagine that equipping and coaching first responders with this easy software aligns with their current life-saving mission. As Mark Mueller acknowledged:
That’s what this laws can do. It will probably save lives. Roughly one in 13 kids have meals allergic reactions. Epinephrine is a first-line therapy for anaphylaxis. It will probably save life in seconds, however it’s solely efficient if it’s out there.
Since their son’s loss of life, Andrew’s household has been actively fundraising to buy and donate auto-injectors to just about all cops and sheriff’s deputies in Wooden County. This native effort has already demonstrated its life-saving potential. Mark Mueller recounted one success story, sharing, “Not lengthy after, there was a 911 name in Wisconsin Rapids the place they had been in a position to administer one of many donated injectors and saved the lifetime of a 28-year-old.”
Working alongside Consultant Scott Krug and Senator Patrick Testin, the Muellers are steering the invoice by the State Meeting Committee. Throughout the listening to, nonetheless, committee members raised sensible considerations, notably about implementation. “My solely actual concern is how will we fund this, proper?” one committee member admitted, citing worries over funding, coaching, and disposal prices related to the brand new mandate.
Regardless of these monetary questions, lawmakers expressed sturdy help for the laws’s intent. Senator Testin encapsulated the invoice’s significance, stating, “I’d somewhat have the power for first responders to have this software at their disposal and hopefully not want it than want it and never have it.” Consultant Krug plans to permit the committee time to evaluation the knowledge and submit amendments, with the objective of shifting the invoice out of the committee earlier than the tip of the 12 months.
Here’s a WSAW-TV information report on their efforts:
