Let’s be Brave Together: A Conversation with Robyn Lao, the Food Allergy Mom Behind the ADDE Act

Robyn Lao knows first hand how challenging it can be to eat at restaurants when living with food allergies. Since her nine-year-old daughter Addie was diagnosed with several life-threatening food allergies as an infant, the family has generally avoided eating out. So when the family recently ventured out to a local restaurant for a meal, they were blown away by the clarity and transparency the menu provided regarding food allergens.That experience inspired the Lao family to introduce ADDE’s bill, which would require restaurants in California to label menu items that contain any of the 9 major food allergens. Tune in now to learn more about Robyn and Addie’s incredible mission to make dining out safer for the food allergy community!To learn more about the ADDE Act and how to get involved visit: www.addietellsall.comFollow along on social media @addie.tells.allRobyn is originally from San Francisco and has been an NP for over 15 years. She received her Masters in Nursing from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the Pediatric Acute Care NP program and her Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) degree in Healthcare Leadership from the University of San Francisco.  She was a Pediatric ICU (PICU) nurse at UCSF and started a PICU/transport NP program at UCSF as part of her doctoral project.  She has experience as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner and has been practicing in pediatric surgery for over 10 years. She helped launch the pediatric general surgery program at Shriners Northern California, and she helped University of California Davis Children's Hospital (UCD ) become one of the first Level 1 Children’s Surgery Centers verified by the American College of Surgery.  She was a past president of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP)- San Francisco chapter, and she was the founding president of the NAPNAP Sacramento Chapter. She now has been the Legislative Chair of NAPNAP Sacramento for the past 3 years, and she just completed a 2 year term as Director of Practice and Quality on the national board of the American Pediatric Surgical Nurses Association (APSNA).