Health officials in Florida are investigating an incident that involved more than two dozen kids rushed to the hospital from a Lauderhill preschool, according to a report from CBS Miami.
The first responders of the incident said that they got a call at around 2:00 P.M. about a sick child at the school. When the responders arrived, they found a total of 29 young students experiencing symptoms of nausea, vomiting, dehydration and diarrhea.
Rescue crews brought 21 of the 29 kids to the hospital from Ave Marie Friends Preparatory School, located at 5801 NW 19th Street.
A number of rescue trucks arrived and parked outside the school. Some of the children were wheeled out on stretchers.
Jeff Levy, Assistant Chief of the Lauderhill Fire Department, said
Eight children were evaluated on scene, but their parents chose to not have them transported to the hospital by Fire Rescue.
Levy says the cause might have been because of the food they ate. “The only common denominator that we can attribute it to is what the children ate for lunch,” he said.
Fire rescuers who were on the scene did not disclose what the children ate or where the packed lunch came from, except for saying that the food came from outside the school.
The kids’ frantic parents feared the worst when they saw a collection of fire trucks and ambulances as they pulled up to the school. One parent mentioned that she was very upset because no one from the school called to inform them of what was going on.
She said, “They definitely should have called the parents as soon as it happened. Don’t just send them to the hospital. I understand the desire to send them to the hospital but in all reality, the parents should have been aware because the parents love their kids.”
When asked about investigating the food, health officials said, “We cannot discuss an ongoing investigation.”
