The FDNY has confirmed that the preschool where a 3-year-old boy died after an allergic reaction to a grilled cheese sandwich did not call 911 when the boy had his severe reaction.
Elijah Silvera was highly allergic to dairy, and preschool officials had been made aware of this allergy. However, someone at the preschool still gave him a grilled cheese sandwich, causing him into anaphylactic shock.
–Boy with dairy allergy dies preschool feeds him grilled cheese–
“He was given a grilled cheese sandwich by an adult at the pre-K, despite them knowing and having documented that he has a severe allergy to dairy,” a close family friend wrote on a GoFundMe page.
However, instead of calling 911, the preschool called Elijah’s mother, who rushed him to Harlem Hospital, where he died.
The Seventh Avenue Center for Family Services is currently being investigated, and for the moment, the preschool has been shut down.
“There is nothing more important than the safety of our children and we are deeply saddened by this tragedy. We will get to the bottom of what happened here. In the meantime, we’re closing the Center for Family Services and continuing to aggressively investigate what happened and whether the facility could have done something differently to prevent this tragedy,” the NYC Health Department said in a statement.
