Driven to be Healthy Bus driver health key to student safety By Art Gissendaner A April 1, 2009 began like any other work day for school


bus driver Laura Geraghty of North Attleborough, Mass. She picked up her students with special needs and was


headed to Newton South High School when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. An antacid tablet did no good. When another pain raced up her left arm to her chest, Laura recognized the signs. She managed to get the bus to the school’s parking lot and asked her bus aide to summon the school nurse because she was having a heart attack. Laura understated the situation. She was actually hav-


ing a massive heart attack brought on by a blockage in her heart that no one saw coming. And that’s how, at the ripe old age of 46, Laura Geraghty died. For almost an hour.


46 School Transportation News Magazine May 2011 Fifty-seven minutes and 21 defibrillator shocks later, Lau-


ra’s heart started beating again, and she became a medical miracle. Because of the non-stop CPR administered by the school nurse and paramedics, Laura suffered no brain dam- age or other ill-effects. Laura’s experience was more than a medical anomaly; it


addressed a number of issues swirling around the impor- tance of the medical and physical well-being of school bus drivers to safely transporting students. While many nor- mally think of school bus drivers in terms of driving skills, criminal history and controlling student behavior, rarely do laypeople give a thought to their health. “Health is a definite concern,” says Donavan Harrington, own- er of Teton Stage Lines in Blackfoot, Idaho. “Our drivers have to


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68