lauridenooy
07-06-2009, 06:03 PM
Like many of you, I have a story that I want to share that will raise many questions amongst yourselves. Our six year old son, William, fell at school on March 11th. Sure, kids are going to fall and get hurt that is part of being a kid. But this is different. My husband and I were up at the school good part of the day working on the yearbook. A teacher in passing told my husband that William fell and that we were to watch him. That was all of the information that we received that day. When we picked up our kids from school, we noticed that his eyes were not right and there was a large “goose egg” on the back of his head. When we got home, he was somewhat quiet, but talkative. I called the doctor’s office to find out what I needed to do and watch for. Before I hung up with the nurse, we had a treatment plan in place and that is; if he became lethargic, listless and nauseous then we were to take him to the ER immediately. Unfortunately, he did get worse and we did take him to the hospital. When we in the process of admitting our son to the ER, he did get sick. The doctor’s and nurses immediately responded to us and began treatment. While we there, we were asked many questions not only by the admitting clerk but also by the doctor’s and nurses. Let me tell you that is the most uncomfortable feeling when you can not answer their questions because no one gave us any information as to when or how this accident happened let alone found out that William was not given any medical treatment at school. In fact, he was instructed to sit down and take a break. My emotions ranged from being mad, angry to upset. Yes, I cried. After the doctor’s examined William and x-rays ordered and completed, found out that he had a mild-concussion. Later that evening, we were able to take William home!! We stayed in the kids’ room that evening to check on William every two-to-three hours as requested by the doctors.
To this day, William still has a bump on the back of his head and we continue to watch him. Instead of my husband and I continue to be mad, upset and or frustrated; we started asking questions. We wanted to know what policies are in place when head injuries occur at school. Let’s just say that we were surprised about our findings. We have researched our school district policies and found that many policies have not been updated since the late 90’s to 2007. Furthermore, we found that policies are updated when laws become affective. For instance; Bullying, Weapons etc. We have extended our research to see what school districts in our state have policies on reporting of head injuries on school grounds. Our findings are very alarming. Many districts are not showing specific policies regarding this. Instead of us continuing to be upset or mad, we want to get our story out and we want to make sure that families do not go through what we are going through now.
My question for you; do you know what policies are in place in your school district regarding the reporting of student accidents? Help us get the word out to our school districts that these policies need to be made available and in place so that all children whether in elementary or high school are protected. Parents do not be afraid to ask your district what policies they have and do not be afraid to ask for a copy of this policy!
Lauri DeNooy
To this day, William still has a bump on the back of his head and we continue to watch him. Instead of my husband and I continue to be mad, upset and or frustrated; we started asking questions. We wanted to know what policies are in place when head injuries occur at school. Let’s just say that we were surprised about our findings. We have researched our school district policies and found that many policies have not been updated since the late 90’s to 2007. Furthermore, we found that policies are updated when laws become affective. For instance; Bullying, Weapons etc. We have extended our research to see what school districts in our state have policies on reporting of head injuries on school grounds. Our findings are very alarming. Many districts are not showing specific policies regarding this. Instead of us continuing to be upset or mad, we want to get our story out and we want to make sure that families do not go through what we are going through now.
My question for you; do you know what policies are in place in your school district regarding the reporting of student accidents? Help us get the word out to our school districts that these policies need to be made available and in place so that all children whether in elementary or high school are protected. Parents do not be afraid to ask your district what policies they have and do not be afraid to ask for a copy of this policy!
Lauri DeNooy