Bipartisan pair from Bucks pitches bills to curb eating disorders
HARRISBURG — Jessica Abbott recalls being impacted deeply by one student in particular during her first year of teaching.
For Abbott, a teacher and coach at Council Rock High School North in Newtown, that young female stood out for being charismatic, inquisitive and passionate. She played basketball and was a sophomore class officer with aspirations of a career in politics.
But when that same student returned to Abbott’s classroom two years later seeking a college recommendation, Abbott recalls feeling stunned at the high school senior’s worrisome “transformation.”
“Her once-healthy, athletic frame was emaciated,” Abbott said. “She had quit the basketball team and student government. Her passion for politics had disappeared, along with the confidence and vitality she once possessed. Anorexia had disrupted every aspect of her life.”
Abbott shared the story with reporters Tuesday in the state Capitol at a press conference to promote legislation intended to help curb eating disorders in the Commonwealth. A pair of bipartisan lawmakers from Bucks County seeks to get schools to play a bigger role in educating communities about the problem.
State Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-10, Doylestown, and state Rep. Steve Santarsiero, D-31, Lower Makefield, teamed up to introduce identical bills in the House and the Senate. McIlhinney’s Senate Bill 1284 and Santarsiero’s House Bill 1959 would mandate that schools provide information about eating disorders annually to parents of children in fifth through 12th grades.
“Some of the districts have pretty good health programs, but that doesn’t mean that parents are getting the education they need to get in order to see the warning signs,” Santarsiero said. “And no school district that I’m aware of is currently, on an annual basis, doing regular communication to all the parents about the warning signs and dangers of disordered eating.”
The legislation — set to be taken up by the House Education Committee in coming weeks — would also make it voluntary for schools to screen students for potential eating-related health problems. The state health and education departments would be responsible for developing guidelines on screening programs for eating disorders, along with a framework for notifying parents when a student may have one. Some students could be allowed to opt-out of such screenings.
“The earlier we detect it, the earlier we have some screenings for it, the better our kids can understand that that pressure from Hollywood to look a certain way isn’t actually the healthiest way to live,” McIlhinney said.
Some 20 million women and about a million men in the U.S. suffer from eating disorders in their lifetimes, including anorexia, bulimia nervosa or binge-eating disorder, according to data from Santarsiero’s office and the National Eating Disorders Association. In Pennsylvania, an estimated 300,000 women and 130,000 men suffer from such diseases, which can lead to serious heart problems and even death.
Emily Rosenberg, of Newtown, now a college student at American University, spoke on Tuesday about her personal struggle with an eating disorder. She said that students start developing a “fear of becoming fat” as young as elementary school. She pointed out it’s going to take a while to change social views about the importance of being thin.
“But in the meantime we can work to change the effect it has on children by equipping the key people with the necessary knowledge and education,” Rosenberg said. “Please support this bill to prevent an eating disorder from taking the fun and joy out of another child’s life.”
Abbott, the Bucks County teacher, noted that her school’s health curriculum already includes lessons about eating disorders, including warning signs and risk factors, and that faculty use the likes of guest speakers, current events and documentaries to help students understand the dangers. But she believes the proposed legislation would strengthen education about these issues statewide. She also said other faculty could benefit from more training and knowledge about the “silent and pervasive nature” of these diseases, with some of her fellow teachers believing eating disorders only affect “athletic teenage girls with Type-A personalities.”
Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, Upper Merion, and Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-18, Bensalem, attended Tuesday’s press conference to express their support for the bills.
“It is a disease that is devastating to the person that has this disease, but also the family,” DiGirolamo said. “It’s critically important that we get this done. This is a really big problem, and it not only affects young women … it also affects young men.”
Bucks County Rep. Paul Clymer, who chairs the House Education Committee, said he plans to bring Santarsiero’s HB 1959 up for a committee hearing and vote once lawmakers return from a two-week break. After Wednesday’s session, the House is set to reconvene on April 28.
Clymer said he intends to the support the bill personally — as long as it doesn’t require too much extra work by school employees.
“This has to be done in a way that makes the faculty, administrators and support staff aware that this is a problem without being overburdened,” Clymer said.
McIlhinney said he doesn’t have a preference on whether the eating disorder legislation originates in the House or Senate, with plans to support whichever bill makes the most headway first.
“Either one of us would be happy if the other got it done,” McIlhinney said.
Natasha Lindstrom may be reached at nlindstrom@calkins.com.