My First Time

Calling 911.

Ever.

I knew this day would come since I deal with 150 students on a daily basis. I'm lucky it hasn't happened sooner.

Fourth hour had been going for about 10 mins. We had gone through the trivia, the howdy's, the instructions, and my students were beginning to pull out their Gatsby book and journals. I was sitting at my desk taking attendance.

I have a set of twin boys in this class, Kevin and Kyle. I honestly can't tell them apart. The other day, one of them was absent and I had to ask the one who was there, "Which one are you?" They have no distinguishable marks to help me tell them apart. They sound alike, they dress in the same style, and their faces are identical.

As I was taking attendance, one of the twins came running to my desk and pointed. I looked to where he was pointing, and his twin brother was passed out on the floor. "What happened?" I shouted. I immediately started shaking.

"I don't know. He just passed out." I ran to the boy, but then I knew I needed to call someone. I ran to my phone, which is on the other side of the room. I called the front office.

"This is Shiloh Nichols in D115. I just had a student pass out."

"A nurse is on the way."

"What do I do? Do I call 911?" I was so shaken, I couldn't think clearly. I was shaking. My knees were hitting one another.

"Yes, call 911 immediately."

I didn't know if I should run to the kid to check on him or call 911 first. I couldn't see the boy, and I had no idea if he was breathing or dead.

I also knew that I couldn't have a student call 911. It was hard enough for me to do, let alone one of my other students. So I dialed 911, who answered on the first ring.

"911. What's your emergency?"

"I am a teacher at Chatfield. I just had a student pass out, and he's on the floor right now." I glanced over and saw one of the twins sitting in the desk. He had his head in his hands, and I thought he was crying. Poor kid...upset about his brother, obviously.

Then the questions came flooding. What's your address? I remembered. What's your phone number? Blank. I never call my school. I spurted out what I think to be the number. What room? D115. Is he breathing? I don't know, I can't see him.

The other 28 kids started laughing. One student yelled, "Ms. Nichols. He's back up." I looked over to realized that the twin who had his head in his hands was the one who passed out, not his concerned brother. I was happy to see that he was up, he was breathing, but he was whiter than any person I have ever seen.

I told the operator he was sitting in his desk. She continued to ask questions. How do the paramedics get to your room? I gave directions. Is there a back way to your classroom? Yes, I gave directions. Can I have someone stand outside to help direct them? Yes, someone is already outside. What does this person look like? He has a Chatfield shirt on with a Chatfield hat. What color is the shirt? Burgundy. What color is the hat? White.

All the while, I was trying to find his medical charts (if I had them). I had a student rummage through my desk to find my folder. She found it, but there was no medical history for the boy.

After I had answered all her questions, she instructed me not to give him any food or water, to put a trash can by him, and to just let him sit until someone showed up. I hung up the phone, visibly shaking.

In the meantime, within a minute of me calling the front office, every single person from the office was in my room. Two police offers. Two campus security. One nurse. Five assistant principals. The principal. Four counselors. It was chaos. Someone ushered my other 28 students from the room. The paramedics arrived about five minutes later.

The sad part was, I didn't even know which student had passed out. I had to ask the nurse who we were dealing with. It was Kyle. They brought his brother back into the room for questioning. His brother stated that Kyle passed out in his chair. Kevin saw Kyle passed out and shook him. That's when Kyle fell to the floor.

Long story short, the paramedics did a series of tests on Kyle. He was as white as a ghost, so it was apparent something was wrong with him but all the tests came back OK. His parents were notified and his mom arrived at the school before the ambulance was ready to wheel him away. My room was a complete disaster. Kyle was taken from the room on a stretcher and was headed to a hospital for more tests.

After my room cleared of the 15 extra people, I was able to bring my class back into the room. They were curious, of course, so I had to take some time to explain that Kyle was going to be OK.

After class, I went upstairs to make sure everything was OK. I found out that the brother, Kevin, ended up having a breakdown in the office because he was so worried about his brother. He started pounding his chest and he also passed out on the floor.

Both boys are fine.

An hour later, I am fine. It took a while for the shaking to stop, and I got a headache from the stress of the situation, but everyone is fine and I hope to never have to do that again.