Our Lady Queen of Peace School - Madison, WI

MADISON, Wis. - A Madison area school now has free access to EpiPens in case its students have an allergic reaction.

Our Lady Queen of Peace School has joined the "EpiPen4Schools" program.

It's a national program created by Mylan and BioRidge Pharma.

Schools that meet qualifications for the program receive EpiPens once they have a prescription from an area doctor.

Each school is given a total of four EpiPens--two junior EpiPens for kids 66 pounds and under, and two regular EpiPens for older students.

Rosa Bogue, a nurse at Our Lady Queen of Peace School, said it's important to have them in stock.

"Our main concern was students with the first-time reaction," Bogue said. "For the student who goes on the playground, gets stung by a bee, or has a reaction to something they ate the night before and they start exhibiting symptoms in the classroom. For them, there is no EpiPen with their name on it waiting for them. These are the kids having stock EpiPens would be perfect for."

Lori LaFond, whose daughter attends Our Lady Queen of Peace School, said having a child with food allergies can be challenging and stressful. LaFond said knowing the school has access to free EpiPens gives her a sense of relief.

"As a parent of a food-allergic child, you worry about every single thing that your child eats every day, even if it's not something dangerous or that they're allergic to," LaFond said. "It could have touched something that they're allergic to or be cross-contaminated with something that they're allergic to."

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