Child dies after having asthma attack at school; no nurse on duty

[Anonymous]

Lots of questions:
When did child complain?
What were symptoms"
When did school call parents"
When did parents take her to ER?

School nurse may not have called 911 if symptoms did not warrant it.

[Anonymous]

Also, and this should not be a factor--but, did the child complain on a daily basis? Or,was this a first time? What had been done before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Canada, we don't have school nurses in ontario. That's just the reality. Seems strange to have one.

Yeah you have socialized medicine..which sucks. You are the country where Liam Neesen's wife Natasha Richardson died because he had to go almost two hours to a hospital that had someone who could treat head trauma. This was at one of your country's top ski resorts. In the states..she would have been to a trauma center asap and they would have drained the blood from her brain and she would be alive. Seems strange that our country USA is going backwards. awful just awful.

And you think the care in the US is better? What a fool. You actually think you or your children can just go to Cleveland or Mayo Clinics, UCLA or Boston Children's Hospital to get care whenever you want? I doubt it. As arrogant Americans we do drink alot of Koolaid

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who has been living in Canada. She said the waiting lists for treatment are very, very long. On the other hand, the price is right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who has been living in Canada. She said the waiting lists for treatment are very, very long. On the other hand, the price is right.

It depends on what you need.

A knee replacement? You will be waiting.

Cancer surgery? You will NOT be waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who has been living in Canada. She said the waiting lists for treatment are very, very long. On the other hand, the price is right.

It depends on what you need.

A knee replacement? You will be waiting.

Cancer surgery? You will NOT be waiting.

This matches with my experiences in both countries.

My Dad had cancer while we were living in Canada, and was treated immediately. My Mom had a hip replacement in the US and waited a significant period of time for her surgeon to have an available date.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't take a nurse to diagnose an asthma attack. 911 was available. A twelve year old with asthma should probably be a reasonable judge of her own situation, as well.

Maybe there's something the schools should have done differently. However, people do die of asthma (a school chancellor of NYC, for example). It may very well be that she was fine until just before she wasn't.

[Anonymous]

Natasha Richardson didn't die because Mt. Tremblant has a crappy hospital (it is a crappy hospital, as are many rural hospitals in Canada and the US). She died because she didn't listen to medical advice and go to the Montreal hospital right away.

[Anonymous]

What difference would a nurse have made? It seems like the school did all the right things - calling dad for example. It's not like a nurse could've given her an inhaler w/o permission.

Hec, they should've just called the child's ped. office. Don't parents usually sign a consent for that?

And most school nurses are true "nurses". Do you really think a certified RN would work PT for such low pay as opposed to a doc office or hospital??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What difference would a nurse have made? It seems like the school did all the right things - calling dad for example. It's not like a nurse could've given her an inhaler w/o permission.

Hec, they should've just called the child's ped. office. Don't parents usually sign a consent for that?

And most school nurses are true "nurses". Do you really think a certified RN would work PT for such low pay as opposed to a doc office or hospital??

A nurse could have realized the child was in danger and called 911. A nurse also could have expressed the severity of the situation to the parent.

[Anonymous]

"She also likes to spend her day email blasting the entire staff with photos of cute kittens."

Every office must have one of those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Canada, we don't have school nurses in ontario. That's just the reality. Seems strange to have one.

Yeah you have socialized medicine..which sucks. You are the country where Liam Neesen's wife Natasha Richardson died because he had to go almost two hours to a hospital that had someone who could treat head trauma. This was at one of your country's top ski resorts. In the states..she would have been to a trauma center asap and they would have drained the blood from her brain and she would be alive. Seems strange that our country USA is going backwards. awful just awful.

I always find it odd when people complain and try and put something/somewhere down when they haven't even done enough research or reading to know the facts. Even a quick glance at wikipedia would have given you basic facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's be clear folks about the term "nurse." Schools do not have an RN. In FCPS, where I work, we have a "clinic aide." She's a very nice 70 year old woman who has some training in things like administering meds for kids, doing vision and hearing screenings and taking temperatures. I'm sure she has also been trained to recognize asthma attacks.

She also likes to spend her day email blasting the entire staff with photos of cute kittens.

One of the rn's I knew in dcps was rude, incompetent and did not seem to like kids. I know of one little preschool student who fell of playground equipment and broke several bones in her wrist and the nurse claimed she was crying crocodile tears. She'd also take 2 hour linches and just let sick kids fend for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be clear folks about the term "nurse." Schools do not have an RN. In FCPS, where I work, we have a "clinic aide." She's a very nice 70 year old woman who has some training in things like administering meds for kids, doing vision and hearing screenings and taking temperatures. I'm sure she has also been trained to recognize asthma attacks.

She also likes to spend her day email blasting the entire staff with photos of cute kittens.

Luckily, DCPS schools have an RN in almost all schools.

Really? When I was at a dcps in nw in the 80s, we hardly ever had a nurse on staff. I think she was there one day a week. If you were sick, you went to the office and begged to use the phone to call your parents and have them come pick you up. Sometimes the guy in charge of the phone (who later was sent to prison for dealing drugs) let you use the phone and sometimes he didnt. I once showed up at home after a miserable day of school with a 102 degree fever and bronchitis. There was no pay phone and in the student counsel election speeches every year the candidates would pledge to get a pay phone installed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be clear folks about the term "nurse." Schools do not have an RN. In FCPS, where I work, we have a "clinic aide." She's a very nice 70 year old woman who has some training in things like administering meds for kids, doing vision and hearing screenings and taking temperatures. I'm sure she has also been trained to recognize asthma attacks.

She also likes to spend her day email blasting the entire staff with photos of cute kittens.

Luckily, DCPS schools have an RN in almost all schools.

Really? When I was at a dcps in nw in the 80s, we hardly ever had a nurse on staff. I think she was there one day a week. If you were sick, you went to the office and begged to use the phone to call your parents and have them come pick you up. Sometimes the guy in charge of the phone (who later was sent to prison for dealing drugs) let you use the phone and sometimes he didnt. I once showed up at home after a miserable day of school with a 102 degree fever and bronchitis. There was no pay phone and in the student counsel election speeches every year the candidates would pledge to get a pay phone installed.

When I was in DCPS in the 80's, we had a school nurse three days a week. In addition, 5 days a week we had 2 "Red Cross Aides", me and my best friend. We were 10. We had about 2 hours of first aide training that apparently gave us the ability to sit outside the nurse's office every day at recess and provide triage. Once when a kid fell off the playground equipment, we went outside to check on him before we decided that the compound leg fracture with the bone sticking out warranted informing the nurse. I cringe to think what would have happened if a kid with a silent asthma attack, the kind my kid gets, had come to us. I don't doubt we would have sent her away untreated.

Luckily, things have changed, and Children's Hospital, together with the Department of Health, provides a full time RN to most DCPS and charter schools.