Appalling Actions from the A-Team
I recently attended a local school board meeting. They're considering a smoking ban on all school campuses. Now, for most of you reading this, that seems like a no-brainer. Me, too!
A few students with asthma brought this issue before the board. They came well-prepared. They expressed how the smoking outside the school doors made it difficult for them to breathe and often resulted in them having to either go to the nurse's office for treatment or go home and miss the rest of the school day.
The board decided to discuss it and vote later!
In my opinion, we need to get involved in our communities. After the meeting, I found the newspaper reporter covering the event. I told him that as the area's asthma educator, I was appalled the board even had to consider the ban. I said that having to consider doing an item on the agenda that would get rid of something making kids sick was just dumb.
Whether it was because they smoke themselves or some other reason, it was unbelievable to me they even had to think about it. This is why we, as RTs, need to offer our advice and maybe, just maybe, even force a couple issues. Even those we trust to do everything they can to educate our children can't promise to keep them safe, so we have to.
What's your community up to?
--Jim Thacker, CRT, AE-C