Thomas MacMillan Photo
When a 6‑year-old at Wexler-Grant School started having a bronchial spasm, school nurse Gloria Rosati-Culver was there to save her life — because it was a Thursday.
If it had been a Wednesday, the day when no school nurse is on duty at the K‑8 school on Foote Street, the girl might not have made it, Rosati-Culver (pictured) said.
She recounted the story Thursday evening at a different school, Conte-West Hills, where the Board of Alders Finance Committee held public hearing in the auditorium. The committee took testimony on the mayor’s proposed $511 million budget for the coming fiscal year.
Mayor Toni Harp’s budget includes a 3.8 percent tax increase, a proposal that drew criticism at Thursday’s hearing. Neighbors testified against the tax increase; questioned a 33-percent increase in the capital budget; and called for more spending on homeless services, parks, and early childhood programs.
Rosati-Culver, wearing flower-patterned scrubs, caught the lawmakers’ attention with her impassioned testimony calling for funding for more school nurses.
Rosati-Culver, in her 37th year as a registered nurse, has been a New Haven public school nurse since last September. She divides her time between Clinton Avenue and Wexler Grant schools, each of which has no nurse on duty for one day each week.
On a recent Thursday, she said, she saw a 6‑year-old girl who had been coughing since the previous day, when no nurse was on duty. “I think she’s aspirating.” Something was partially blocking her airway.
Rosati-Culver gave the little girl a sip of water, then a bite of a saltine. She had trouble swallowing. “Two seconds later, this kid went into a bronchial spasm, where, if you don’t do something right away, you’re going to have one dead child.” Rosati-Culver called 911 and the girl was taken immediately to the hospital.
“If this had happened on a Wednesday and I hadn’t been there — where are we accountable?” Rosati-Culver asked. “We need a nurse for every school.”
East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked if teachers are trained to administer medication if nurses aren’t there.
They are, Rosati-Culver responded. But sometimes they are busy with other responsibilities and “there are lapses with kids not getting their daily medications.”
“I’m really worried about we heard going on in the schools,” said committee Chair Andrea Jackson-Brooks, at the end of the public hearing.
The standard of care should be having a nurse in every school, full time, said Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Mike Stratton.
Alders agreed to have the health department come to the next budget hearing, on May 12, to answer to questions about nursing staffing in schools. Board of Alders President Jorge Perez (pictured with Alder Jessica Holmes) also requested the presence of staff from the Community Services Administration, to speak about homeless services, and the budget director, to speak about the 33 percent increase in the capital budget.
The May 12 meeting will also include Board of Ed officials, to answer questions about education spending.
Budget amendments for consideration by the Finance Committee are due by May 13. The committee will meet on May 14 to vote on amendments and on the budget, which will then go to the full Board of Alders for a final vote and, possibly, more amendments.
This should be the single most important issue for the schools. School reform, career and college, wrap-around services . . . none of it means anything if the most basic need of taking care of student health and safety is not met. The city has been running a dangerous gamble for far too long. Ditch the trolley. Drop the branding consultant. Dump the chauffeur. Delay a technology upgrade. Find the money to hire a nurse for every school.