I have a friend who has been teaching about 30 years. She was telling me and a group of friends/relatives this story. It is a little gross/TMI.
My teaching friend (we'll call Mary) had a female student who had a massive diarrhea accident in her class. Most of the accident happened while the student was standing. By the time the accident was mostly finished the student was pretty much covered from waist down. This happened in an 8th grade class with about 30 students to witness the whole event from start to finish.
Mary called the school nurse to see what to do. Neither Mary nor the school nurse felt they could send the student to the nurse's office because by this time not only was her clothes completey ruined from waist down but she was standing in a puddle that was about 12 inches diameter. They felt to send the student to the office ( a long way from the classroom) or even the bathroom down the hall would have caused a health hazard and would have greatly embarrassed an already very embarrassed 14 year old girl. Shortly after the students (some had started to laugh loudly and poke fun) were evacuated the student also lost control of her bladder .
The janitors (all available ones were needed) and the school nurse brought clean up equipment to the classroom to clean the student. A teacher was posted at the door so no one unauthorized would walk in and the teacher posted at the door also served to block the window in the door. Mary told us that the only clothes that could be saved were her belt and her bra. Everything else had to be trashed (her shirt was tucked into her pants). Even her shoes and socks were beyond saving.
One of my cousins, an LPN, couldn't believe they did the clean up in the classroom instead of taking the student to the bathroom or the nurse's office. Even though Mary tried to explain that liquid feces would have been tracked almost halfway across the school my cousin didn't care. Mary tried to explain that it would have been horrible for a 14 year old girl to have to walk down the hall with any and everybody witnessing this accident and her soiled clothes, on top of the class seing it as well. For some reason my cousin firmly believed that the clean up should not have taken place in the classroom.
I am asking you all, if you don't mind, who was right? Did the school nurse make the right decision? I hope this all makes since and if I left out important details I will try to provide them. I did not witness the accident, but only have Mary's account of it. Mary told us that the girl's mother was very pleased with how it was handled.
BTW Mary had an in depth conversation with the girl's mother about the accident and the mother could only figure that the new depression meds the girl was on caused her to have a very upset stomach, to say the least.
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