On Tuesday morning, February 19, a near-capacity crowd gathered in the Administrative room at Winston Medical Center to participate in a tabletop discussion centered on an incident that took place on the Eiland Middle School campus over a three-day period, when a number of students and staff became ill and had to be transported to the WMC ER.
The discussion was facilitated by Winston County Emergency Management Director, Buddy King, who pointed out that this was a unique situation in that Winston County had never had to deal with such an event. The purpose of the discussion was to have an objective assessment of what took place, the effectiveness of response decisions, and to receive feedback on changes that might need to be implemented.
The panel consisted of King; LMSD Asst. Superintendent, Kyle Hammond; WMC ER Nurse Manager, Paula Harris; Mississippi Poison Control Medical Director, Dr. Robert Cox; and, MEMA Executive Director, Gregory Michel. Participants consisted of medical personnel from WMC and various clinics within the county, LMSD officials, law enforcement, City of Louisville representatives, and others.
Hammond laid out the timeline of the incident which took place in August, only a few weeks into the school year. On the first day, three or four students became ill and it was thought to be an isolated incident; the students were picked by their parents. On the second day about nine students and two or three staff members were affected and ambulances were called to transport them to the Emergency Room.
Hammond stated that that particular hall was shut down, and there was no evidence of a gas leak. However, when students returned on the third day some became ill and the decision was made to close the campus.
King stated that he considered this to be an epidemic and he contacted medical control who put him in touch with Cox at Mississippi Poison Control. Also, the 47th Civil Support Team was on site within 12 hours to help determine the cause of the illnesses.
King added that, at the time, the local healthcare system was being stressed in ways that he was not aware of. Harris stated that WMC ER was alerted that a number of patients were being transported to the facility by ambulance, and at that time WMC’s disaster plan was activated. As patients began to arrive, doctors came in from the medical clinics to assist, as well as some of the nursing staff from the WMC Nursing Home facility, which helped to ease the burden.
The 47th Civil Support Team came in to assess the buildings to determine if there was a causal agent present, as well as assessing complaints.
In the end, no causal agents were ever found on the campus, and no other incidents have taken place since.
