‘It was a scare’

WESTERN BUREAU:

SEVERAL PARENTS got a serious scare on Friday morning when they received news that nine students and one teacher at the John Rollins Success Primary School in Barrett Town, St James were experiencing episodes of fainting and vomiting.

The teacher was reportedly the first to begin feeling unwell shortly before the general devotional exercise, while the students – who were largely from the grade-six cohort – experienced similar symptoms during a mathematics session after the devotions.

While operations at the school were back to normal when The Gleaner visited, the parents and guardians who gathered at the institution were on edge, some muttering “The blood of Jesus” to console themselves.

Sancha Dobbs, whose daughter is in Grade Six at the school, admitted to being worried for her child’s safety when she first got the news.

“It was a scare, and I was very frightened by it. My daughter called and informed me about it, so I just hurried and came the same time,” said Dobbs. “All different kinds of things were going through my head, but I just wanted to make sure my daughter was okay and that it was nothing too serious.”

Camala Shaw, who also has a child in Grade Six, said her daughter suffered asthma symptoms triggered from the panic.

“My daughter called me and told me that other kids were experiencing fainting and vomiting. I told her that I am going to come get her if she is experiencing any of that,” said Shaw. “Afterwards, the principal called and said my daughter is panicking and asked if she has asthma, and I said ‘Yes’. So my daughter borrowed somebody else’s pump to treat herself. Because of the fear of the other kids, she was panicking, and I thought it was bigger than this, but I am glad that everything is settled.”

It is understood that, shortly after the incident, the school sought guidance from the St James Health Services, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education.

The parents of the affected students also picked up their children, The Gleaner was told.

Rehydration fluids were also sourced from the nearby Barrett Town clinic to treat affected persons, and representatives from the health department visited the school to monitor the rest of the population, in case of any further incident.

The incident took place days after another bizarre incident at the Oberlin High School in St Andrew, where several students fainted or fell into an apparent trance during a devotional exercise on Wednesday.

But Yvonne Miller-Wisdom, the principal of John Rollins, made it clear that the sickness and fainting experienced by the teacher and students did not occur during the school’s devotion.

“It was during a math class when it happened that the students got sick, and the teacher got sick before devotion. What happened was that the teacher came this morning and was vomiting and fainting, and then we had general devotion, and after that we had what we call ‘math talk’. Then I heard an uproar at one of the grade-five classes and I was told that a child fainted. The child was taken to the sickbay, and then we had a number of other students fainting and vomiting,” said Miller-Wisdom, adding that, by 11 a.m., the panic had ended and things had settled down.

“We are assuming it is gastroenteritis, but we are still monitoring the situation, and the Ministry of Health has given us rehydration fluid which we have on the fridge so that we can administer it in case we have any more episodes,” she added.

Since last week, concerns have heightened about gastroenteritis with the health authorities reported that scores of children had reported to the Bustamante Hospital for Children over recent weeks, with symptoms of the illness.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com