Recent student deaths are getting to me

[NanaPoo]

So, this happened Monday afternoon at a metro Atlanta school. It's been all over the news and I saw lots of nasty comments on Facebook last night about how the teachers and parapros must have been "gossiping" or "on their phones" and neglecting the students for this child to have been hanging on the monkey bars long enough to have asphyxiated.

Autopsy shows kindergartner died while playing on school... | www.wsbtv.com

There are minimal details about how long she was hanging there and how she actually got in the position (or what position she was actually found in). Apparently, the staff performed CPR on the student prior to EMS' arrival. I read every article I could find. If more details come out I will be sure to update.

There is a school nurse listed on the school website but there are no details as to whether he/she was present at the time or if this nurse is only responsible for this one school or many. The only nurse I could find with the same last name on the state BON is an LPN. Not that it matters...either you know CPR or you don't. My heart goes out to all of the faculty and staff at this school and to the family of this sweet girl.

I can't imagine what events had to transpire for this to happen.

Anyway, I found out about this last night (Wednesday) and was heartbroken...but prior to that I'd seen this video released by CHOA-Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

High school athlete's cardiac arrest caught on camera

Being a volleyball mom AND the school nurse in charge of all of our campus AEDs, this brought me to tears immediately. I spend hours every week, year round, watching volleyball matches. And I'll likely be doing that for years. This brings chills down my spine.

Do you train your staff on AEDs? Do you train your athletic coaches specifically how to use these or rely on the fact that AEDs are basically user friendly for anyone on the street to be able to use?

Do you train your staff (particularly your athletic staff) to know CPR?

[Farawyn]

Yea, I coulda done without that.

Those poor parents.

The volleyball fall was brutal, thank God she made it.

I don't do the teaching, but it's done every year by a nurse in the other school.

[NanaPoo]

Yeah, that volleyball fall gets me. Bad.

[DEgalRN]

That's so, so sad. I can't imagine the pain and grief for everyone involved.

All our staff are CPR certified, and we have 4 AEDs located throughout our very small school. They are the "follow the instruction" kind. Which I appreciate, because in an emergency, every little bit helps. And even though they are the basic kind, everyone gets an overview on how to use them.

[BeckyESRN]

We have an emergency response team in all of our buildings. Everyone on the team is CPR certified and trained to use the AED. At the MS and HS, the coaches and athletic trainers are CPR/AED certified.

I can't even imagine what these schools are going through. Hopefully, once the whole story comes to light, people will stop trying to place blame and instead pull together to provide much needed support for the families, students, and staff.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Every one of our coaches (MS/HS) is CPR and AED trained; I don't do the training, but do arrange for great group of EMTs trainers to come to the school to conduct the training. This year, I expanded that training and also had about ~12 of our interested juniors trained as well.

We have an AED in each of our buildings.

[OldDude]

This is very tragic; hopefully it can be prevented by sharing the story. I don't judge what I don't observe so I don't have an opinion about the playground supervision going on at the time of this terrible incident, but I have observed teachers huddled up in conversation - mostly oblivious to the goings on with their classes at recess. I forwarded this KG story link to my campus in hopes it may remind them how important it is to be vigilant at all times. Thank you for sharing this heart wrenching link.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

Eeeeek

I saw that on the news last night (volleyball) Holy Moly!!! She hit the floor HARD! Triple bypass, who wouldda thunk?

[blue bag nurse]

I've known that school principal since we were in 7th grade. She's always been a great person and it doesn't surprise me that she knew exactly what to do!

[NanaPoo]

I've known that school principal since we were in 7th grade. She's always been a great person and it doesn't surprise me that she knew exactly what to do!

Very cool! I've only read great things about her on social media since this video came out. I have some LCA connections and know only great things about the school. I've been very impressed by everything I've heard about this story.

I appreciate the family releasing their story and sharing the video if it's a lesson for only one school (like mine) to increase their staff training and be ready for their own possible emergency situations.

[Finally2008]

This story is my worst nightmare! I have seen an increase in playground injuries lately, due to our nice weather we have been having, and almost every one of them is due to students not following the playground rules. I have forwarded the story to my staff, also, and am making plans to go over the playground rules during morning announcements.

[SnowyJ, RN]

Horrible. Our staff stands huddled together, rarely directly supervising play. BUT our K students are 1/2 day so rarely go out to play. And when they do, a teacher and aide are always right there. And they are not allowed on the dome. (Report says "monkey bars" but it was actually a dome shaped play structure.)