Schools must protect our children but tragically a school failed in its duty, with devasting consequences.
Ryan Gibbons was a lively child who should still be alive but due to the inept leadership at his school, he’s no longer with us.
Ryan Gibbons was active and enjoyed being outdoors but there was one thing always reining in his energy, the child had asthma.
Most people know that asthma is a treatable condition and Ryan Gibbons should have been able to prevent his asthma attacks from having any dangerous consequences upon him but the school had a lousy system that stopped him from using it.
It all began when Ryan Gibbons and his friends were playing soccer and the asthma attack hit the boy and he urgently required his inhaler but didn’t have it because a school administrator had confiscated it and locked it away earlier that day.
His friends lifted him and hurried him to the office where the inhaler was being stored but the administrator was not at the office and they couldn’t get inside and by the time they found anyone who could get into the office Ryan Gibbons was dead.
If the school hadn’t had this pointless policy of impounding Ryan Gibbon’s inhalers, then the child would not have died, yet Ryan Gibbons and his family had previously tried telling the management of his school that they shouldn’t take away his inhalers.
The school didn’t listen and they cared more about establishing a pointless school rule than protecting one of their pupils and after the family realised that the school would keep on taking away the child’s inhalers, they’d gone to extreme measures of making their son plant them on his person but the school administrators would frequently find them and take them away.
The school’s policy was that all prescribed medication needed to be kept in an office but obviously, none of the school staff members was bright enough to understand that this policy could threaten a child’s life.
This inhaler that Ryan used was a device that he required all the time because when an attacked happened it opened up his airways and enabled him to breathe again and by not being able to have access to his inhaler Ryan passed out and never woke up again.
This event took place at the Elgin Country School located in Ontario, Canada and an investigation was done that revealed that in spite of various attempts, Ryan was not permitted to keep his inhaler on him, this was even with a note from his doctor.
Ryan’s mother recalls that the school called her numerous times asking her to come to pick up his inhaler that Ryan had brought to school and since Ryan’s death, his mother has decided to do whatever it takes to stop this from happening to another family.
It’s vital for each child that has asthma to have immediate access to their inhalers while at school and in America, at the time of Ryan’s death, there were laws that enabled pupils to carry their inhalers on hand, yet numerous children were still being denied as the inhalers were still being labelled as a prescription medication and they’re forced to leave it in the office.
More than 10 Americans die every day due to complications from asthma, even though death rates have diminished, they’re not absent and deaths are potentially preventable.
Nevertheless, since the story was published in 2012, a new law has been passed called Ryan’s Law which now requires all school boards in the province of Ontario to develop and maintain asthma policies that better protect students with asthma.
