Rep. Greg Martin
The House on Tuesday advanced legislation that would create a grant program to provide anti-choking devices to schools in Tennessee.
House Bill 2028, sponsored by State Rep. Greg Martin, would require the Tennessee Department of Health to administer a grant program reimbursing public and private schools and first responders for anti-choking devices.
“This bill is about saving lives across Tennessee,” Rep. Martin said. “Schools should have all the resources they need to keep children safe and anti-choking devices are great tools to help save the lives of students.
This grant program will give teachers and staff more confidence in times of crisis by providing them access to easy-to-use life-saving devices.”
Anti-choking devices help clear objects out of airways. The program would reimburse schools for the purchase of one device for each cafeteria in a school and medical first responders for one device in each emergency response vehicle.
“Our whole goal is to have an anti-choking device in every food service area in Hamilton County and in all counties in Tennessee,” Rob Creswell, CEO of a foundation distributing anti-choking devices, told the House K-12 Subcommittee on Tuesday.
"More than 12,000 children are taken to the hospital every year for choking on food and at least one child dies every five days in the United States. It is the fourth leading cause of unintentional death in children younger than five," officials said.
The three-year grant program would take effect on July 1, with a limit of $500,000 in awards.