All schools in Indian Prairie School District 204 have new life-saving devices to help in emergency situations, officials said at a recent presentation.
One type of new device, rescue inhalers with the drug Albuterol, has already been used four times this school year to help students suffering from a respiratory emergency, according to district Health Services Coordinator Linda Herwaldt. She gave an update on the Health Services Department to the district’s Board of Education at its meeting on Monday.
“Inhalers are for anyone who comes in in acute respiratory distress, so it could be a student who has never had a respiratory problem but perhaps has a respiratory illness going on, and it triggered difficulty breathing,” Herwaldt said. “It could be that a student forgot their inhaler at home. On occasion, that happens.”
The rescue inhalers were given to the district at no cost through RESCUE Illinois, a program of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America that is funded by grants by the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Schools also received aero chambers, valved holding chambers and masks, accessories to the rescue inhalers that help get the medicine to lungs more quickly, at no cost to the district through the program, according to Herwaldt.
Other than the equipment received through the RESCUE Illinois program, two other types of lifesaving equipment were introduced to schools this year.
If someone is choking and traditional methods of clearing their airway have failed, schools may now turn to their new life vac kits, Herwaldt said. This device, which is approved for ages 3 and up, creates suction and pulls the obstruction out of the throat, officials said.
Bleeding control kits, which contain tourniquets, trauma dressings, compressed gauze, gloves, shears and more, are now being stored in cabinets next to all defibrillator machines, according to the presentation.
Each classroom will soon be given its own emergency bag, according to Herwaldt. She said the bags were developed in collaboration with Ron Wilke, the district’s coordinator of safety, security and emergency preparedness.
The bags are being put together by participants in the STEPS program, which teaches adults with special needs the skills they need to enter the workforce, according to the presentation.
Indian Prairie School District’s Health Services Department has also started a new partnership with VNA Health Care to provide physicals and immunizations to students who may be new to the district or are not already connected with a doctor, according to Herwaldt.
She said VNA Health Care has special scheduling for Indian Prairie students and sets aside blocks of time during the week specifically for the district.
The district also has a new program to help nursing students get practical experience in public schools, Herwaldt said. It is partnering with universities such as Aurora University, University of Illinois Chicago and Illinois State University, according to the presentation.
In total, five universities placed nursing students within the district in the first semester of the program.
Herwaldt said that, this school year, Indian Prairie school nurses have seen almost 65,000 student visits.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
