On the evening of June 25, Sarah-Émilie Hubert, 15, suffered a severe allergic reaction. She was allergic to milk and eggs. After administering an EpiPen — a spring-loaded injector containing epinephrine often prescribed to those diagnosed with severe allergies — her father Stéphane Hubert and mother Lyne Robert took her to an emergency room as she continued to experience difficulty breathing. Resuscitation efforts by hospital staff proved unsuccessful and Sarah-Émilie Hubert was pronounced dead a few hours later. Sarah-Émilie Hubert knew the dangers of her allergies. He even made anaphylaxis the subject of a high school curriculum. (Rebecca Kwan/Radio-Canada) “Since my daughter died, I can’t do anything,” said Stéphane Hubert. In the wake of their daughter’s death, the family is asking the province to set up allergy clinics in every area. “We need someone to make it happen,” he said. At the time of writing, the petition has more than 500 signatures. “We must have these services,” Hubert said in French. “Sarah-Émilie would like to have these services. “These are things that exist, that work. I don’t know what we’re waiting for… It can save lives.”
The risks of severe allergy were clear
Sarah-Émilie Hubert knew the dangers of her allergies. He even made anaphylaxis, the immune reaction to an allergen that can cause difficulty breathing and a drop in blood pressure, the subject of a high school program where he bemoaned the lack of allergy resources in the area. Currently, the closest such clinic in Quebec is at the Center hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine in Montreal. “Now we say to ourselves [that] we should have moved to Montreal,” her father said in an earlier French-language interview with Radio-Canada, less than two weeks after his daughter’s death. “We were hoping things would develop in the Outaouais,” added Robert. “That’s what we told Sarah-Émilie. There are some in Montreal, it will be in Gatineau, it will come.” Hubert had nurtured a passion for baseball from a young age. The teenager died suddenly after suffering an allergic reaction in the middle of the night. (Rebecca Kwan/Radio-Canada) Allergy clinics in the Outaouais didn’t come fast enough for their daughter. In a French-language statement emailed to Radio-Canada, the Outaouais public health authority said that while the region has access to two specialist allergists, services could be improved. “Work is currently underway,” the statement said.
Clinics can help prevent future tragedies
Dr. Peter Lin, a family physician, said allergy clinics can provide specialized, specialized care for people with severe or complex allergies, which could have long-term benefits for these patients and the health care system as a whole due to reduced stress in the emergency room. “In a specialized center, they would have all that information and it would be easy for them to package it together,” Lin said. “So it might cost money to install it … in the long run it will save money and maybe save lives.” Lin said an added benefit of more allergy clinics would be a much larger data set with which to conduct allergy research, potentially allowing medical professionals to predict a young person’s allergies based on their family history. He sees “tremendous potential … in terms of predicting allergies and making sure people never have that horrible event where someone dies because of an allergic reaction.”
Memorial from the community, the group
Sarah-Émilie Hubert had a passion for baseball from a young age. Her team paid tribute to her during a recent game and will wear a sticker on their helmets in memory of their teammate for the rest of the season. Maryse Gaudreault, MNA for the riding of Hull, agreed to meet with the family in early August. He said he will also attend Sarah-Émilie’s funeral to support the family. Gaudreault is bringing the family’s request for more allergy clinics to the provincial legislature. The petition will remain open for new signatures on the Quebec National Assembly website until the end of August. Sarah-Émilie Hubert’s baseball team plans to wear a sticker on their helmets in memory of their teammate for the rest of this season. (Rebecca Kwan/Radio-Canada)
