It started innocently, with a piece of candy.

But things quickly changed for a student in Chuck West’s classroom.

“He was eating a fireball (candy),” said West, an eighth-grade Georgia history teacher and wrestling coach at Chestatee Middle School. “All of the sudden he stood up and he was wheezing.”

West knew something was wrong, and when he went over to check on the student it was clear he was choking.

West is trained in first aid and performed the Heimlich maneuver.

“It just shot out like it does in the movies,” West said. “It’s probably the quietest I’ve ever had my class.”

West is one of many teachers in local schools that are trained to act in case of an emergency.

Mamie Coker, health services coordinator for Hall County schools, said school officials teach “response teams” how to react to medical emergencies so people throughout the school will know what to do, not just the nurse.

Coker said there is a nurse in each of the Hall County schools and one nurse that splits time between the high schools.

“Already, especially at the middle schools and high schools the nurses leave while the students are still in the building,” Coker said.

“Emergencies don’t stop, illnesses don’t stop, so that’s why we do have to have other trained people there.”

Each response team is made up of between 10 and 20 trained staff members.

“We have currently about 575 employees with the Hall County school system that are certified in American Heart Association (automated external defibrillator and cardiopulmonary resuscitation),” Coker said.

Coker said the emergency response teams were formed in 2001, shortly after school nurses were introduced into the
system in 2000.

Benjie Wood, basketball coach at North Hall High School, has been on the school’s response team for three years. He said it is especially important for coaches to know how to perform life-saving procedures because nurses have left the schools by the time athletic teams start practice after school.

“We’ve done drills,” Wood said. “Hopefully we won’t have to put it into use any time soon, but you always want to be prepared just in case.”

Paula Sawyer, health services coordinator for Gainesville schools, said at the beginning of each school year, parents are asked to fill out student health information sheets.

“For example, if a child has seizures or needs use of an EpiPen ... for a severe allergic reaction, then we get all those teachers that are involved with that child and explain what that condition is and what to do,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer said she also informs bus drivers if a student has a medical condition that may require assistance in an emergency.

Though it’s important to have many people ready to act in an emergency, nurses still play a vital role in schools because they are trained to care for people in all medical situations, Sawyer said.

“Each year, they seem to want to make cuts to the nurse program,” she said. “Then the legislators hear from parents, teachers and staff members of how important the nurses are to the schools because we have a lot of different kids with different medical conditions and different needs.”