EMTs

One of my favorite students started coming toward me, and he didn't look ... right. He could barely walk, listing to the side, his arm hanging, drool was spilling over his lips and his eyes had a vacant look I've seen before: he was having a stroke. He tried to talk as he fell to the ground, but was almost incomprehensible. He did say, "I don't feel so good."

I called 9-1-1, explained that I had a medical emergency, described the symptoms, and provided directions to the classroom. The student directed me to call someone on his cell phone, which I did, trying to tell them that there was a medical emergency without totally freaking them out in the process.

Long story short, I ended class and everyone else went happily on their early way home. The student was transported, with his family members worriedly following behind the ambulance. The student had a stroke last Fall, when he was also one of my students, but that event happened at home, not in my classroom.

I usually take these kinds of things in stride, but after calling 9-1-1 last week for a female student who was not doing so well (it was diagnosed as a panic attack and she returned to finish the class), I'm beginning to feel just a tiny bit unnerved! Honest, I'm not that hard on students. Really. It's just coincidence!