My Name is Thomas Silvera. I am the father of Elijah-Alavi Silvera. Elijah-Alavi had passed away due to a tragic incident that occurred while he was attending a New York City Pre-K school/Daycare center on November 3rd, 2017. He had passed away after someone had given him something that contained an allergen he was severely allergic to causing him to go into anaphylaxis shock and soon after passed away. Since then my family and I been working tirelessly to advocate and create change. We started The Elijah-Alavi Foundation in our son Honor, an initiative designed to raise awareness on the importance of anaphylaxis & severe food allergy.
My family and i have been working tirelessly with legislators like Assembly Al Taylor and Senator Brian Benjamin on a bill that will improve child safety by guaranteeing that young children with food allergies in any learning environment, from early childcare, daycare centers and more are better cared for and that educational centers have the training and resources necessary to prevent and treat future anaphylactic attacks. we have also aided in the amendment of the NYC Department of Health Codes by providing safety with educational training and with Kaléo pharmaceutical donating 7500 Auvi-Q (epinephrine auto-injectors, USP) to all NYC regulated daycare centers to protect our young children. #elijahecho
On September 12th, 2019, Governor Andrew M Cuomo signed into law a bill that will mandate new Food Allergy guidelines for early childcare and daycare center throughout New York. That law is called Elijah's Law.
The Elijah-Alavi Foundation stands strongly on making sure that we ensure that the proper training and education is a vital source for preventing a tragic incident in care like this from happening again. There needs to be accessible for every Public School/Daycare to be stocked with epinephrine auto-injectors. Education: for every adult to be trained and certified that works in daycares/Schools to know the signs of anaphylaxis and be able to treat children experiencing it in the event of an emergency. Equity: to make sure that all children in every school in every neighborhood regardless of socioeconomic conditions, culture, or class, are safe when their parents drop them off at school. The Elijah-Alavi Foundation had partnered up with a company called Belay www.webelay.com. The first in-person accredited Food Allergy Preparedness Training.
