mold-symptom.com

Ona-May Slauson arrived last Monday at Bethany Junior High School to find her daughter Cassandra gasping for breath in the back of an ambulance before it headed to Yale New Haven hospital.

"It was like a scene in a horror movie," said Slauson, "except my daughter was coming out of school."

Cassandra, a ninth-grader, has no recollection of seeing her mother at the ambulance. She was struggling with yet another attack - her worst yet - caused by mold in the school.

"Her illness started in seventh grade," said Slauson. "She got red rashes and was itchy."

Slauson said when Cassandra was in eighth grade, her illness took on a "different life," but they did not associate it with the school.

"Cassandra became dizzy and lightheaded and she went to the nurse a few times," she said.

Slauson said she had Cassandra checked for low blood sugar, "but she was fine. I attributed it to growing, to being 13 years old."

When Cassandra entered ninth grade last month, Slauson noticed her daughter was sick more often.

In school, the nurse had Cassandra document what she ate during the school day and how she felt during each class.

Cassandra said she felt pressured to stay in class and not go to the nurse as much as she really needed to.

"I felt like the teachers thought I was just trying to get out of class," said Cassandra. "I was feeling pressure to keep up. I don't want to be behind. I shouldn't be sick at school."

Slauson was aware of problems with mold at Bethany Junior High School, so on Sept. 13 she took Cassandra to an allergist, Dr. Philip Weisinger of Allergy Associates in New Haven. According to a written statement from Weisinger, skin-testing revealed positive results for mold spores, particularly Aspergillus and Hormodendrum.

"I therefore feel that the patient's symptoms are causally related to her exposure to mold in Bethany Jr. High School," wrote Weisinger.

Slauson said Amity School Supt. Dr. Helene Skrzyniarz told her she would try to move some of Cassandra's classes, but as of Monday, Sept. 22, nothing was changed.

Sickness strikes again

Cassandra said that on Sept. 22 she looked forward to gym class, her fourth class of the day, because "the outside actually made me better."

However, Cassandra began to feel sick after gym class while she was in the girls' locker room - a locker room that tested positive in the past for molds such as Aspergillus.

Cassandra went to the nurse's office within the first few minutes of her next class. She said she was given oxygen, but that did not help.

"My hands and body began tingling and I felt worse. I was lightheaded," said Cassandra. "The principal sat with me and they were telling me to breathe. I didn't know what was going on. I don't remember leaving school in the ambulance."

Slauson said she expected her daughter would be sitting in the ambulance easily taking in oxygen when she went to see her.

"What I got was a child gasping for her life with oxygen," she said. "It freaked me right out; I was ready to cry."

Two hours later, Cassandra felt better. Slauson believes it was because her daughter was "out of the environment" that made her sick.

Slauson said Cassandra is still not back at the school, and a teacher will be coming to help her with work.

"She pretty much has to stay out of school because of the mold," said Slauson. "I don't know what we'll do; maybe a private school."

Cassandra said, "Now I'm by myself, with no friends, no school, nothing, and everyone else is there."

Joellen Lawson, president of the Canary Committee, an organization working to protect children and personnel from harmful substances found in schools, spoke with Slauson about Cassandra's illness.

"We talk to parents and children," said Lawson. "It is very empowering for kids to share stories and meet other kids and to understand they are not alone."

Slauson said that since Sept. 22, life has been "hectic."

"We are getting calls from parents all over the state with sick children to tell my daughter she is not alone..." she said. "It's like being in the Twilight Zone."

'School needs to be fixed'

Slauson said she is not getting answers as to the mold issue in the school, and people need to be aware of it.

"People think that since children are going to school, that the school is okay," she said. "But the school needs to be fixed."

Lorri Cavaliere, a member of the Amity School Board who has been at the forefront of efforts to address mold problems in the school system, agrees with Slauson about the need for awareness.

"The [school] board needs to understand the urgencies of these environment issues," said Cavaliere. "Students, parents and children are aware; now the board needs to be aware."

Cavaliere said the board should be more proactive and test all classrooms for mold.

"Teachers and children that have asthma or immune problems should not be exposed to [mold]," she said. "It is detrimental to their health."

Preliminary plans to renovate Bethany Junior High School in a few years may be the reason why school officials have not taken immediate action to fix the problem, according to Cavaliere.

"I feel we cannot wait until the renovations," said Cavaliere. "Are you going to wait for a child to die?"

State Sen. Joseph Crisco of Woodbridge, who co-chaired a committee with Cavaliere to address environmental concerns in the district's schools, also recently got involved with the mold issue at Bethany Junior High School.

He said it is a "very difficult situation, a serious issue that has gone on for several years."

"The mold and air quality problems at Bethany Junior High School have gone beyond reaction," said Crisco. "There has to be immediate action for the health and well-being of students and staff."