Heart Attack Symptoms in Men and Women - Philadelphia Cuts School Nurses, 6th Grader Dies of Asthma Attack With No Nurse On Duty

Heart Attack Symptoms in Men and Women




Women especially should look out for little
signs that are different than in men. Classically
when people have heart symptoms that are coming from insufficient blood from the coronary
arteries, they feel chest discomfort. Women
may not feel that. Women may feel a shortness
of breath â€" or they may feel that they can't
catch their breath. Sometimes they might feel
a little dizzy, or they may feel a little
fatigued. Fatigue alone may be the only symptom
that women feel. So it's very deceptive, and
it's up to doctors to know that these subtle
symptoms may actually be coming from the heart.
Men, especially after the age of 40, if men
have a family history of coronary disease,
or if they have high blood pressure or other
risk factors like diabetes or they smoke.
Anytime they have any kind of discomfort in
their chest or their shoulder or their arm
or even their little finger, that is sufficient
symptoms to warn you that it may be coming
from the heart.
If I can give one message, don't wait. Go
to the emergency room. Have someone take you.
Have someone drive you. Don't you drive to
the emergency room. Have someone drive you
to the emergency room . Or better yet, call
911. It's an emergency. It may not seem like
an emergency, but it's an emergency.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1uK6R_Ih74


Philadelphia Cuts School Nurses, 6th Grader Dies of Asthma Attack With No Nurse On Duty




JESSICA DESVARIEUX: Welcome to The Real News
Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.
Philadelphia sixth-grader Laporshia Massey
suffered an asthma attack at school on September
25 but couldn't receive any help, since no
nurse was on duty. That's because the district
eliminated 3,000 positions, including nurses.
Unfortunately, 12-year-old Laporshia died
shortly after returning home.
Joining us now to discuss this tragedy are
journalists Daniel Denvir and Philadelphia
school nurse Eileen DiFranco.
Thank you both for joining us.
DANIEL DENVIR: Thank you.
EILEEN DIFRANCO: Thank you.
DESVARIEUX: Daniel, so I know that you had
direct contact with Laporshia's family. Can
you just describe for us what happened that
day?
DENVIR: According to Laporshia's father and
the father's partner, she began having asthma
issues at school that afternoon. They received
two phone calls, one each from the school.
They did not realize how serious the situation
was. Later that afternoon, a school staff
member ended up driving Laporshia home, ostensibly
because she was too sick to walk home. And
within--according to the father, within 15
minutes, he drove his daughter to the hospital.
She collapsed in the car on the way. She had
taken--tried medication, getting on her nebulizer
at home. It didn't work. He rushed her to
the hospital. She collapsed in the car. He
stopped the car, flagged down--blocking an
ambulance in the street, flagging them down.
They took over, took her to the hospital,
where she later died.
It's unclear--we can't say for sure whether
a nurse being there that day, whether they
could have foreseen what would happen or saved
Laporshia's life, but that's a big question
that the parents have and that a lot of people
in Philadelphia are asking right now.
DESVARIEUX: As you mentioned, Daniel, there
was no nurse on duty, but this isn't a unique
situation. In 2011, 289 school nurses worked
in Philadelphia. Now only 179 such nurses
work in the district. That's a decline of
nearly 40 percent. Eileen, how did we get
here? And who do you see as being responsible?
DIFRANCO: Unfortunately, one of the first
things that Governor Corbett did when he became
the governor was that he decreased education
funding by $1 billion. One-third of that funding
was designated for Philadelphia. Unlike 47
other states, Pennsylvania has no funding
formula. So instead of having this formula,
it's basically orchestrated by politicians
in backrooms who have no understanding of
the noxious effects of poverty, and they have
no understanding of education itself.
Our current crop of politicians also tends
to listen to reformy so-called innovators
like Michelle Rhee. This unfortunately has
led to severe cutbacks in our city, as you
mentioned, in our school district, as you
mentioned. Our school nurse service has been
cut back. Not only that, we have few to no
counselors, we have no vice principals, and
other school personnel have been cut back.
So what this means is that we have fewer eyes,
fewer ears, fewer hands, and fewer minds that
are able to deal with situations like Laporshia's.
And, unfortunately, in spite of all this,
our governor continues to hold the school
district hostage. There's $45 million which
he has refused to provide to the school district
unless the unions give back 10 percent of
our salaries. So I feel that our governor
is playing chicken, a mean-spirited game of
chicken with vulnerable children.
DESVARIEUX: Okay. And Governor Corbett has
said that education cuts are necessary to
close the budget gap. But in June, the GOP-controlled
state legislature passed a corporate tax cut
that's estimated to cost the state $600-$800
million a year. That's more than double Philadelphia
schools' deficit for the next fiscal year.
Daniel, can you explain the role of powerful
interests in changing the education system
in Philadelphia?
DENVIR: Yeah. Well, first, on the revenue
side you do have Governor Corbett saying that
there's just not enough money and cuts have
to be made. Yet he has allowed corporate tax
breaks to be put in place. And perhaps even
more importantly, he has refused to place
a significant tax on natural gas drillers
who are exploiting massive energy reserves
in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. You also
have tons of tax loopholes allowing corporations
to shelter money in Delaware that there have
been many proposals to close, and he refuses
to do so. So there is revenue out there.
On the city level, you have major corporations
like Comcast, you have major nonprofits like
the University of Pennsylvania who are getting
major property tax breaks, or in the case
of these wealthy nonprofits, not getting taxed
at all.
So on both the state and the city level you
have a lot of powerful interests that could
be contributing more.
DESVARIEUX: Okay. Well, thank you both for
joining us.
DENVIR: Thank you very much.
DIFRANCO: You're welcome.
DESVARIEUX: And thank you for joining us on
The Real News Network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE-UfIzdsp4