School board honors third-graders' quick thinking

MOSES LAKE — When third-grader Natalie Bischoff had a seizure at recess, classmates Caitlin Spitzli and Sadie Maiers knew exactly what to do.

“Us three were just talking, kinda bored, and we ran over to the other side of the playground,” 9-year-old Spitzli said. “[The classmate] said ‘I feel a little faint,’ and she fell down. I told Sadie to go get a teacher.”

Maier just “kinda stared” at first, but Spitzli was insistent. More importantly, Spitzli stayed with Bischoff while Maiers went and got help.

And for that, both Spitzli and Maiers were honored by the Moses Lake School Board last Thursday night.

“She has a very compassionate heart, so this doesn’t surprise me, but how she conducted herself under pressure is pretty amazing,” said Spitzli’s mother Tanya.

“They were such wonderful little angels,” said Beatrice Lucio, Bischoff’s mother. “They knew, go get help and stay with her. It was really amazing.”

Lucio said this is not Bischoff’s first seizure. Her daughter was diagnosed with a seizure disorder three years ago. Bischoff is fine now, Lucio added.

Caitlin says she just remembered everything her mother taught her about caring for her older sister in case her diabetes causes serious problems.

“Hannah, my sister, has diabetes, and Mom told me what to do when we’re home alone,” Caitlin said.

“Usually, that means calling 911. We talked about it at home,” Tanya added.

Caitlin said that while Maiers went to find help, she stayed with her friend until, groggy and disoriented, she regained consciousness.

“When she woke up, she asked, ‘Where am I?’ And I said ‘school’ and she said ‘who is school?’ and I said ‘school isn’t a who, it’s a place,’” Caitlin said.

According to Midway Elementary School nurse Penny Mayo, watching a video of the incident, which was captured by the school’s security cameras, is just like watching a training video of what to do when someone collapses or has a seizure.

“We have not even shown kids how to do this,” Mayo said.

Mayo said that kids frequently show concern and care for, or “mother,” other kids, especially if they are disabled. There are also a fair number of diabetic students in the Moses Lake schools, Mayo added, so kids are often aware of the difficulties their peers are dealing with.

Still, students helping each other out like this doesn’t happen often, Mayo said.

“Well, the security cameras are new, it may have happened before and we just never knew,” she said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.