On Call

Without a nurse at school, teachers struggle to provide medical care.

By Karen Rutzick

Six minutes into Janelle Stewart’s 4th grade physical education class in February, one of her students dropped her jump rope and bent over. She had asthma and couldn’t breathe.

The girl was new to the school and didn’t have a health care plan on file. She didn’t have an inhaler, and the school, Williams Elementary in Flint, Michigan, didn’t have a nurse on staff.

Without a nurse she could consult, Stewart wasn’t sure what to do, and the girl’s breathing wasn’t getting any better. Stewart stayed with her class while the girl’s homeroom teacher took her to the office and called 911. “It took about 10 or 15 minutes for the ambulance to get there,” Stewart says. “It was the longest 10 or 15...