Posted on 09/30/2011 2:53:05 PM PDT by rawhide
ASPEN, Colo. (CBS4) – A former student at Colorado Mountain College says she was forced to drop a class because she had a seizure.
Channing Seideman was in the middle of an emergency medical technician class when she had an epileptic seizure. She said faculty members asked her to drop the class, saying the episode was too distracting to other students and there could be more.
Seideman said it was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and she’s filed a complaint against the school.
She doesn’t want other people to experience the same thing.
“They’re allowed to have a seizure in class. They don’t have to get kicked out. It’s kind of just paving the way for other people with disabilities or epileptics,” Seideman told CBS4.
Colorado Mountain College did not return calls from CBS4. It told the Aspen Times it cares about all its students.
Yep, she needs to know her limits. But still I feel for her.
I hear ya. We had 2 in math class, and one in chemistry. I later divorced one of them. They can make men do stupid, stupid things.
/johnny
She's a cutie. And obviously intelligent, if wrongly guided. If she were my grand-niece or second cousin, I would strongly try to convince her to work toward her obvious goal of being a care provider in ways that worked well for her situation. She seems like a good kid. I hope she gets past this, and makes a contribution to the world by winning big at whatever she does.
/johnny
No. 34 C’s and one less button than modesty should permit. Just very, very lovely, in addition to that. Don’t even remember her name...she transferred in and disappeared a couple of weeks later.
That's a nice thing you said.
As an EMT and a nurse I can safely state that there are many positions available for someone that has an EMT certification. Simply because someone has an EMT certification doesn’t mean that she has to work on an ambulance.
I earned my EMT back when I was in college. The follow summer I worked at a camp up in the mountains as the craft staff member. My application was moved to the top because I had my EMT. Everything I did at that camp (as far as medical care) was basic first aid, but to my employer I was a resource for the staff and director when a camper was sick or injured.
I don’t care what job you are applying for, be it in a factory, office or outdoors, when an employer has the choice between two individuals and one has their EMT, they are the one that gets the job.
She sounds lovely.
As a mom of an epileptic, yours is the post with reason.
My (14 yr old) daughter has not had a seizure in 4 years, but the neurologist has warned us that lots of kids seizures return during college because they are not sleeping enough, stressed out, drinking, and in general not taking care of themselves.
It’s no reason for the young lady to be kicked out of class unless she has uncontrollable seizures. I don’t think she’d be in college with uncontrollable seizures.
Why didn’t they tell the truth then, that while this probably wouldn’t unduly inconvenience the class (hey, she could serve as another emergency patient for them to practice on) they believe it might be an unwise career for her.
Stop making sense!
A seizure is too distracting in an EMT class?!? I would think it could be a great learning opportunity for the future paramedics.
I dated a girl who had seizures once too, only she didn’t tell me that she had them. I found out when she woke me up one morning thrashing around in bed like she was doing calesthenics or something. It didn’t look anything like the “seizures” you see on tv, so I thought she was just having a crazy nightmare or sleepwalking!
Ha! Bet you wouldn’t have reported her to the teacher for “distracting” you though, would ya?
Thank you, good observations.
My college curriculum required EMT training (7 credit hour class) but very few went on to sit for state boards, let alone pursue a career as EMT.
Like you said, she is taking a class.
That would have required looking away from her. And he was well aware that she was distracting, so why bother?
That is true, but the “certification” in most states is EMT-A, or Emergency Medical Technition - Ambulance.
As such, anyone certified as EMT-A has to be able to perform basic emergency lifesaving skills to specific standards in a prehospital environment.
It may sound “uncaring”, but EMT training is not designed to provide “job opportunities” for otherwise nice people. The training and certification program is to provide qualified basic level rescuers.
Providing care for a seizure victim is no big deal. When the rescuer is having the seizure though, it is.
There should be no “waiver” of requirements for any program or certification where other peoples lives are on the line.
Like I stated, she can have the certification without working on an ambulance. It is up to the ambulance company to ensure that she is fit for their rigorous employment standards as well as fit to driving an ambulance.
The ambulance company that I worked for required a printout from DMV to drive any of their vehicles let alone an ambulance. Do you think that any ambulance company is going to hire her and put her behind the wheel on the first day? I think not. The company that I worked for put the new recruits through their paces in a two week class that included skills checks and assessment abilities before even assigning them to a unit. This was a requirement even for those that were an experienced EMT from another company. Then after passing their classroom orientation, they were assigned to an FTO along with an EMT-1 for OJT. The FTO then did the final weeding to ensure the those that would be capable of handling the job. Those that are EMT-1 are responsible for 3-4 people while the paramedic is responsible for 1-2.
I think Channing has some very good lawyers working for her.
Some money is going to change hands and a number of people fired.
And as for those pantywaists in the class who could not handle a simple grand mal seizure? A career change is indicated. EMS is very messy work. Grand Mal seizures are the easy, clean part.
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