Garden City mother pushes for EpiPens on all flights

<p>A Garden City mother is pushing for legislation that would require airlines to be equipped with EpiPens after her 10-year-old son suffered a severe allergic reaction mid-flight.</p>

News 12 Staff

Mar 6, 2018, 8:05 PM

Updated 2,414 days ago

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A Garden City mother is pushing for legislation that would require airlines to be equipped with EpiPens after her 10-year-old son suffered a severe allergic reaction mid-flight.
Francine Ingrassia says she had no idea her 10-year-old son Gianluca was allergic to nuts until the family was heading home from a vacation in Aruba on an American Airlines flight. 
Since the boy had never been diagnosed with an allergy, the family didn't carry an EpiPen. The flight attendant made an overhead announcement for medical help and a nurse came forward.
Two passengers rushed over with their own EpiPens, which the nurse administered.
“The scariest thing was that American Airlines did not have an epi pen [sic] in their medical kits and served nuts on a plane,” Ingrassia said in a Facebook post.
The family now takes precautions and carries an EpiPen. But Ingrassia says her real concern is airline passengers who don't know if they have allergies.
“I just want to raise awareness,” she told News 12. “I just feel that every airline and every carrier should have an EpiPen in their medical kit.”
Ingrassia is hoping her story will revive a federal bill that would have required airlines to stock each plane with at least two packs of EpiPens and train air crew members on how to use them.