N.J. has a new seizure first aid awareness law. A local teen helped make it happen

Liza Gundell, the CEO of Epilepsy Services of New Jersey, said the disorder can be dangerous, especially for people who have one or more seizures every day, and may hurt themselves falling.

She said some individuals “have seizures involving the whole brain, those seizures have a beginning, a middle and an end and providing seizure first aid is important, but if the person having the seizure is pregnant or they’ve never had one, call 911.”

Epilepsy Services of New Jersey has provided seizure first-aid training to more than 110,000 people over the past 3 years.

Their Seizure First Aid poster recommends the acronym TRUST, which stands for: turn person on their side, remove objects like eye glasses and ties, use something soft under their head, stay calm and stay with the person, and time the seizure — if it lasts more than 5 minutes, call 911.

Greenwald said for people who may experience fewer seizures than others, “making sure that they take their medication obviously is a big part of it, limiting access to screen time with the blue light is a big part of it.”

In 2020 Paul and his mother Colleen Quinn formed an organization known as Paul’s Purple Warriors.

The group then worked with Greenwald on a measure approved by the legislature known as Paul’s Law. It requires all school personnel to be trained in seizure recognition and first aid, and mandates schools to develop an individualized seizure action plan for each student who has epilepsy.

More recently, in the summer of 2021, Paul and Colleen urged Greenwald to sponsor a new bill to require seizure first aid information be given to all employers.

St. Pierre said people who have seizures need to know others are aware of their condition and will be there to help them.

“Don’t feel alone because you have people that love you, that are by your side,” he said.

Greenwald said once employers have been given information about seizure first aid, they will hopefully display the material so everyone can see it, although this would not be mandated.

While epilepsy is the most common condition that causes seizures, they may also be caused by head trauma, a high fever, or severe infection.