Faced with situations of emergency and urgency, it is necessary to know how to remain calm, act with a cool head and without panicking. It would seem reasonable that 6-year-olds would hardly be able to deal with such a situation, but we all need to change our minds after reading the story of the young pupils of the "Cedar Hill Elementary" of Ardmore, Alabama (USA), who have saved their teacher Tracy Hodges. Tracy suddenly fell ill in her classroom, and her young pupils responded. The little "heroes" went to call for help immediately.
Tracy Hodges has been teaching at Cedar Hill Elementary in Ardmore for 28 years, but nothing unpleasant has ever happened to her during class time - at least up until this point. Without warning, however, the woman felt unwell: at first her vision began to blur and gradually her strength drained out of her. Within minutes, she found herself falling off of her chair, drained of energy and fainting. Being seen by her little pupils in this state was the last thing she would have wanted, but she also knew that the children would have to go and call for help. "It was scary for me," said the teacher, "because I knew the children had seen something they really shouldn't have. But asking for their help was the only way I knew I could be saved."
"Ms. Hodges was shaking and we thought she was joking," said Dalton Widener, a 6-year-old student, "she then fell off her chair and hit her head." Fortunately, the children acted in a timely manner: a small group remained to look over the teacher, while another group ran off to alert the teacher in the adjacent classroom and the school nurse.
Thanks to the intervention of the children, Ms. Hodges was rushed to the hospital in time, where they diagnosed her as having had an epileptic seizure. And, as if that were not enough, she also had Covid-19, but had not experienced any symptoms of the virus. After a quarantine period, the teacher was able to return to class and embrace her little heroes. Her biggest regret is that her pupils had to witness such a frightening event, so a way was found to focus attention on the heroic deeds of the children. All of Tracy's pupils were honored, during a school assembly, with a certificate and a medal for their heroism!
