NEWS RELEASE
EPILEPSY SIMCOE COUNTY
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With one in 10 people experiencing a seizure at some point in their lifetime, it’s important that businesses and their employees know what to do when one occurs in their place of business.
Enter Epilepsy Simcoe County’s (ESC) Awareness Campaign.
"While there’s a stigma and fear surrounding seizures, many people who experience them don’t disclose it to others,” says Executive Director Shawna Bailey. “Our goal at Epilepsy Simcoe County is to take any fear away by educating the public as to what epilepsy and seizures are and are not, and how to respond when one takes place.
Shawna says that talking about the different types of seizures and seizure first-aid can help create more awareness and knowledge in the community. “Our agency doesn’t just work with those who have epilepsy; we’re here to educate the entire community about what a seizure can look like and how to help. In 2018 we had a young woman almost walk into traffic during a seizure and was thankfully pulled to safety. The majority of the population understand a seizure to be where someone may fall to the floor, but that simply is not the case.”
Shawna’s own daughter had Absence Seizures when she was an infant, and while she quickly outgrew them, the thought that it was a seizure never occurred to the new mom. “While I had another family member growing up with tonic-clonic seizures, and epilepsy was a common term in our house, I didn’t piece together at all what was occurring with my own child. I had no idea at that time that seizures could look very different from each other.”
Epilepsy Simcoe County wants everyone to be as familiar with seizure first aid as they are with epipens. “Even if we’ve never had to use one, we all know how to provide medical assistance to someone who is having an anaphylactic reaction. I want similar knowledge and familiarity to extend to basic seizure first-aid.”
To learn more, local businesses and agencies are invited to book an information session through their ESC’s online platform here. The public is also encouraged to follow Epilepsy Simcoe County’s Facebook page to stay up-to-date on events and more.
Epilepsy Simcoe County (ESC) was established in 1978 as a volunteer organization to assist the people of Simcoe County with education, support, awareness and advocacy. They are located in downtown Barrie and serve their member base in the Greater Simcoe County area. ESC provides people living with epilepsy education, understanding and support to get help they may need in a caring and understanding environment.
Epilepsy is a common disorder with over 300,000 Canadians affected and over 50 million people world wide. It is estimated one in 100 people in Simcoe County live with this disease.
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