Last week, sweet 3-year-old Elijah went to his daycare at the Seventh Avenue Center for Family services in Harlem, New York like he did every day. However, on this day he was given a grilled cheese sandwich, despite center employees knowing he had a severe allergy to dairy (it was well documented). Sadly, Elijah went into anaphylactic shock and was rushed to the pediatric emergency room at Harlem Hospital Center where he died. 1
For some reason, instead of calling 911, the center called his mother, who rushed him to the hospital.
The facility is now closed as an investigation into the boy’s death is ongoing. Officials believe this is an isolated incident as a September 21st inspection of the center saw no violations cited.
Christopher Miller, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said:
“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 closed 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.”2
Yesterday, the Administration for Children’s Services had staff at the center to assist families in finding alternative programs for their children to attend.
Elijah is survived by his mother, Dina, father, Thomas, and his 5-year-old brother, Sebastian. Our hearts go out to his heartbroken family. Please visit the family’s GoFundMe page and help if you are able. The family plans to use the money to help with funeral and medical expenses, as well as a second and independent autopsy.
