Media release from Atrium Health Floyd:
When students in our community returned to school this month, 44 Atrium Health Floyd school nurses joined them on campuses across the area, and one Cedartown mom is particularly grateful.
With just two weeks to go in the school year last year, Kayla Shaw received a call from McCaela Smith, the nurse at Cedartown High School. That call illustrated to Shaw just how vital these health practitioners are. Floyd has provided school nurses to Rome and Floyd County schools since 2016 and to Polk County schools since 2017.
Shaw’s son, Rylei, now a Cedartown High School senior, has severe reactions to tree and grass pollen every spring. He takes medicine twice a day and receives a shot once a week. So, when he called his mom to come and get him from school, his request wasn’t that unusual. It was springtime, the time of year when Rylei’s allergies give him a run for his money.
Rather than take him out of class, Shaw told her son he should go see the school nurse.
“Rylei’s really not a complainer. I told him, ‘Go to the nurse and let her check you out.’ That’s what she’s there for,’” Shaw remembers.
Not long after her son had called, Shaw received a second call. This time it was from Smith. Rylei’s blood pressure was elevated, and his heart rate was erratic. Rylei needed to go to the emergency room.
Once at Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center, doctors suspected Rylei had a collapsed lung. An MRI confirmed their suspicions. Surprising to Shaw, a collapsed lung, or spontaneous pneumothorax in medical terms, is relatively common in tall, thin teenage males. Still, it can be a medical emergency in severe cases like Rylei’s.
When a chest tube did not allow his lung to reinflate, Rylei was transferred to Scottish Rite Hospital where a larger tube was inserted. Unfortunately, that treatment was unsuccessful as well, and surgery was required to repair the air leak in Rylei’s lung. Three days later, he was home, talking on the phone with his friends – a fact Shaw still has trouble conceiving.
“It went from scary to normal in a matter of three days,” she said. “That is just mind-blowing.”
Shaw also pointed out that Smith’s care didn’t end with that fateful phone call. The nurse called throughout Rylei’s hospitalization and recovery to check on him.
Now, Rylei is driving again, mowing the family lawn and starting his final year of high school.
“He’s doing great,” his mom said. “I’m glad I didn’t just go get him. Going to the school nurse made a difference. I’m glad she was there that day.”
“I am so thankful that McCaela used her nursing skills and knowledge, combined with her caring nature to take the time and attention to c heck this student’s vital signs multiple times and realize that there was indeed a problem,” said Dr. Matthew Anderson, Atrium Health senior vice president for clinical transformation.
“Had this student experienced this issue a week late, school would have been out for the summer, and this student may not have gotten the immediate attention he needed.”
