OVERLAND PARK, Kan.– An Overland Park mother contacted FOX 4 with concerns that emergency medical personnel don’t have an injection her daughter would need in an emergency, and they can’t even administer the drug if the girl has her own supply on her.
Eden Lord’s daughter, four-year-old Cambria Lord, has a condition in which her body doesn’t produce certain hormones, including cortisol, the stress hormone. Cambria takes hydrocortisone pills daily for that, but if she has any type of stressful situation — any type of medical emergency — she needs a shot.
“It’s 30 minutes between life and death for her if she’s in any kind of accident,” said Eden Lord.
The family keeps the medicine at home, at school and in their vehicles. That’s similar to those who have EpiPens for allergic reactions. But unlike EpiPens, emergency medical personnel don’t carry the hydrocortisone shot, and they can’t inject Cambria with her own medicine.
“The downside is if the EMT would get there and I would be unable to administer the shot, if I were incapacitated in a car accident, they can’t administer it,” said Lord.
Only a handful of states allow it, and Lord believes that should change. She says she didn’t make progress with EMS agencies she contacted, so she started an online petition.
FOX 4 News called the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services, and the executive director, Steve Sutton, says if Lord makes a written request, he will take it to the board’s medical advisory council for consideration. It’s progress that the mom has been hoping for.
“We do worry as she gets older and even when she becomes a driver herself — who’s going to be there? And we want to know EMS is going to be readily available to administer that shot to her,” said Lord.
Sutton says at the mom’s request, the council could also consider whether all ambulances in the state should carry the shot. But he adds there can be problems with medicine getting too hot or too cold. Eden Lord says the vial of hydrocortisone costs less than $7 and the normal shelf life is five years.
