Margaret Kelwaski, Chautauqua Lake Central School Nurse: "The total population of seven school districts impacted because of geographic location by Westfield Memorial Hospitals Emergency Room closing is fifty-one hundred students. This is every school day that this population is going to be impacted. Every day the parents of these 5100 students send their children off to school, place them in the care of the school for seven to eight and sometimes even longer hours of the day.
Chautauqua Lake school has a population of about 900 students. Included in this 900 are 65 BOCES [Board of Cooperative Educational Services] students that are housed here at Chautauqua Lake. Many of these are medically fragile students. "[The students ride] the buses to and from school - which is a risk especially in inclement weather conditions that we have in this area. They come to school, they play on the playgrounds. They perform physical activities throughout the school day and playgrounds are historically known to be areas of high injury. Children sustain falls, concussions, injury to limbs and other body parts. Playgrounds, gym activities many of the activities that go on during the school day place the student at risk for injury, sometimes serious injury.
"Students here at Chautauqua Lake School compete in 14 different sporting events throughout the year. Many of these are contact sports which have high incidents of injury, sometimes serious including concussions, fractured limbs, hemorrhaging injuries that can be life-threatening; weve sent dozens of students for injuries that have occurred playing sports. Probably the most serious injury that concerns us is our head injuries, and we do have students who sustain these, playing sports. "Last year from the Health Office, we transported five students to Westfield Hospitals Emergency Room. All five of these transports did involve potentially life-threatening situations. Three of the students were experiencing seizures sustained for over five minutes. A seizure that lasts for more than five minutes has the potential irreversible brain damage and death. And so time is a critical element in treating seizure activity. Another transport student was a student who experienced severe allergic reaction. This child was having trouble breathing, was breaking out in hives, all of the classic symptoms of a severe anaphylactic reaction. We have students every day that attend school here with bee-sting, peanut and other allergies that are life-threatening, Time is a critical element in all of these emergencies New York State has mandated that all schools have automated external defibrillators. We have to have these defibrillators in our building within one-minutes fast walk from any area of our building. We also have to have these defibrillators on our playing fields when we have athletic events. They are in all public buildings and are being put everywhere in the community. The [Chautauqua] County Sheriffs Dept. is now carrying them in their sheriff vehicles, because it has been shown that if you have access to a defibrillator, they can save lives in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest. YET FOR ALL THESE OTHER MEDICAL EMERGENCY EVENTS THAT WE DEAL WITH ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS IN THE SCHOOL SETTING, NEW YORK STATE HAS DETERMINED THAT IT IS OKAY TO ADD 30 TO 40 MINUTES OF TRAVEL TIME TO ACCESS EMERGENCY CARE. AND WE HAVE A CONCERN ABOUT THAT. "I haven't heard any arguments about how this decision to close Westfield Hospitals Emergency Room has any positive benefits at all. My understanding is that this was a decision of the Berger Commission and it was to cut healthcare costs in New York State although I haven't seen any figures as to what these cost savings would look like, I can tell you right now that the cost of not having that Emergency Room available is going to come at a great cost to the people of the school the students, the staff, the visitors, the spectators and the residents of this community. Placing over 5100 students and a thousand employees at increased risk for death or permanent medical damage every school day is a much greater cost. What is the value of one life lost?" Nov. 2009 (transcribed by yoryevrah); part of a series filmed for cable access 5, Mayville. karen & roy harvey, snowshoefilms chautauqua
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