Mother claims school waited to call 911 while son was having stroke

BOSTON — After three strokes, Alishia Hicks would rely on her able-bodied 17-year-old to get around. Now he too has trouble walking for the time being after suffering his first stroke last week. When Hicks got a call from the Henderson Inclusion School nurse, she tried explaining what was happening.

“Listen there’s a small vessel problem on my mother’s side of the family that causes a stroke easily if there’s any blockage in it is so important to get him to the hospital right away because he could die,’ said Hicks.

Hicks says the school nurse didn’t think it was a stroke and wanted her to come pick him up. The problem was, Hicks was home alone sick, and not mobile.

“Your professional eye may not see the stroke,” said Hicks. “It’s not visible but if he’s telling you he is weak on his left side, please, at this point I’m pleading with all intensity that I could muster up with no voice. Please get my son to the hospital, please.”

“They start arguing with her on that while I’m out here stroking on the bed right now trying to stay up,” said Henderson junior D’Andre Hicks. “I was afraid that if I fell asleep or something like that I was going to go into a coma or probably for the worst.”

The family says they went back and forth for 45 minutes with no 911 call, instead, a call to the Department of Children and Families.

“you could hear the other one in the background,” said the mom. “The other nurse said to call DCF.”

After the DCF call, the nurse called 911. At the hospital, doctors were able to stop the stroke with medication. After staying two days, he’s back home now but hasn’t been back to school since.

“He’s not happy about the school right now he doesn’t feel safe there,” she said. “His words when he was in the hospital, he said mom I can’t believe they didn’t believe me.”

“Our concern is first with the health and well-being of this student. We are glad to hear he is recovering well,” said a district spokesperson. “This serious incident is being reviewed by appropriate BPS staff and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on this specific matter.”

The school sent a note to Henderson Families that day saying paramedics were called to support a student having a diabetic episode. When we reached out for more info they told us medical privacy prevented them from saying more. DCF told us the same thing also mentioning it is investigating the report.

Noting national research proving racial bias in medical treatment, Hicks questions whether race was a factor in the nurses not believing them about her son having a stroke. Now she wants to see both nurses reprimanded and retrained.

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