36 Blevins Elementary Students sent to hospital

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Pupils are rushed to hospitals, causing scare at Eureka school

BY HEATHER RATCLIFFE

Of the Post-Dispatch

04/23/2002 08:38 PM

Eureka paramedic firefighters Sheila Frost and McCarthy carry a

sick child to a school bus at Blevins Elementary.

(Teak /P-D)

Maybe it was a student's asthma or allergy or reaction to wasp spray that

started the chain reaction, but officials suspect it was the power of

suggestion that spread mysterious symptoms through an elementary school in

Eureka on Tuesday morning, sending 36 pupils to be checked at hospitals.

" I think we had a few sick kids and the others got scared, " said Deputy

Chief Randy Gaber of the Eureka Fire Protection District. " We did our best

to defuse the situation. "

By noon, careful officials sent out a precautionary alert for a mass

casualty incident. They shipped out nine pupils by ambulance and 27 later by

school bus. Teachers worked to maintain calm and get through the rest of the

school day.

By early evening, it appeared that none of the youngsters would be admitted

to a hospital.

It was the second day children fell ill at Blevins Elementary, 25 East North

Street, but officials said they know of no connection.

Problems started Tuesday when a small group of fourth- and fifth-grade

pupils reported breathing symptoms during a physical education class on the

outdoor track. Then more students began complaining.

The first to fall ill may have been exposed to a wasp pesticide used on an

exterior door Tuesday morning, leading to asthmatic or allergic reactions,

Gaber said.

Doctors at St. 's Mercy Medical Center said only one of five children

taken there, a girl, 12, had symptoms on arrival. She suffered from

hyperventilation, or rapid breathing.

It's not unusual for panic to set in once one or two kids say they're

feeling ill, explained Dr. Etzwiler, a pediatric emergency room doctor

who examined the children at St. 's Mercy.

Initially, there was concern that they had been exposed to an insecticide,

which can be harmful in high concentrations, Etzwiler said.

" But it became obvious that this was not what was going on, " she said. " I

think it was a combination of some kids experiencing some mild symptoms -

possibly from farm fertilizer applied one to three days earlier - and then

anxiety set in and the kids started feeding off each other. "

Hyperventilation can set off a chain of physiological events, especially in

suggestible children.

" They look in distress, their hearts are beating fast, which worries them

even more, " said Dr. Donna Eckardt, a doctor of pediatric emergency medicine

at St. 's Mercy. " The hyperventilation causes them to get light-headed

and their fingers and toes get numb, which are weird feelings to a kid. When

they try to describe those things, they can get interpreted as any number of

things. "

Judith Dungan, president of the Rockwood School Board and parent of a

fifth-grader at Blevins, said officials decided that every child who

provided any cause for concern should be sent to a hospital.

She said a boy passed out on the soccer field at Blevins on Monday was found

to have candy lodged in his throat and was saved with the Heimlich maneuver.

Dungan said she now wonders whether he choked first or passed out first,

possibly from chemicals sprayed recently by a highway crew working near the

field along Highway 109. The boy was examined at a hospital and released.

Inspectors from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the St.

Louis County Department of Health were investigating all possibilities

Tuesday.

As news spread about Tuesday's problem, some parents rushed to pick up their

children. Dungan said her son wanted to go home, but she prompted him to

stay and set an example.

She said she felt he was safe with the school windows closed and air

conditioning on.

Students remained in their classrooms after inspectors determined the air

quality inside was safe, said Kim Cranston, spokeswoman for the school

district.

Cranston said four other children had complained of feeling ill after the

episode on the soccer field Monday.

During Tuesday's scare, Gaber said, paramedics set up a triage station in

the school's multipurpose room, checking blood pressures and heart rhythms.

Ambulances took nine children to several hospitals. About 1 p.m., emergency

workers gathered 27 pupils to ride a bus to Cardinal Glennon Children's

Hospital in St. Louis.

Those students were seen clenching their stomachs and rubbing their eyes

while marching out the front doors, past parents and cameras. Once on the

bus, some appeared playful, leaping over seats and waving from windows. A

few cried.

Some mothers leaped from their cars and scurried into the school office,

returning minutes later clutching their children.

Pam Terry said she took her son and daughter out of school after noticing

news helicopters hovering overhead. " I don't think there is anything to

really worry about, " she said. " I'm just being a concerned parent. "

April picked up a neighbor's son, Jeffress, 8, when she went

to the school to retrieve her own kindergartner. 's mother worried

because he suffers from asthma.

" We just don't want to risk anything, " said. " You just don't know

what chemicals will do to their little bodies. "

said his friends were sharing stories about kids who got sick during

gym class. The talk may have spread panic about his peers.

" They are sort of freaking out, " he said.

Deborah L. Shelton, Kohler and Carolyn Bower of the Post-Dispatch

contributed to this report.

Reporter Ratcliffe:

E-mail: hratcliffe@...

Phone: 618-659-3637