12-year-old Ryan Gibbons died after suffering a severe asthma attack in his schoolyard in October 2012. His rescue medication was locked in the school office.
Photo Credit: CBC

Law allows students to carry asthma medication

Ontario is thought to be the first Canadian province to legally allow children to carry asthma inhalers with them at school. The so-called rescue puffers help asthma sufferers who may have great difficulty breathing during an attack.

Boy died in schoolyard 

Legislative representatives voted unanimously to pass Ryan’s law, named after 12-year-old Ryan Gibbons who died of an asthma attack in his schoolyard in 2012. His puffer was locked in the school office, as prescription drugs most often are, and he was unable to get it in time.

Ryan’s mother lobbied hard to get the government to adopt a standardized law to prevent such a thing happening again. The new law will require every school in Ontario to allow a student who has asthma to carry their rescue puffer with permission from their doctor and parent or guardian.

Many Canadians have asthma

About three million Canadians have asthma and six out of ten of them do not have good control of the disease.

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