Excerpts from Cathy Davis, MA ED

Suicide Prevention Education Specialist

Utah Board of Education -reprint

In the past decade, there have been many stories in the media about bullying and links to teen suicide. Research has shown that approximately 1 in 2 teens experience some degree of bullying with up to 1 in 6 report dealing with cyberbullying. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.

There is an emphasis that school administrators and teachers should take the lead in prevention but really this is a huge problem and all community leaders like EMS responders and parents should take part. This is a wide spread problem and it’s prevention should involve us all.

The CDC reported on some common research findings in their pamphlet; The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What it Means for Schools and Utah has taken a close look as well Utah Bullying Statistics.

• Youth who feel connected to their school are less likely to engage in suicide-related behaviors
• Youth who are able to cope with problems in healthy ways and solve problems peacefully are less likely to engage in suicide and bullying related behaviors.
• Youth with disabilities, learning differences, sexual/gender identity differences or cultural differences are often most vulnerable to being bullied

At StopTheBullying.gov we get great direction on where to start.

Stop It on the Spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior, they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time. There are simple steps adults can take to stop bullying on the spot and keep kids safe.

Do:

• Intervene immediately. It is ok to get another adult to help.
• Separate the kids involved.
• Make sure everyone is safe.
• Meet any immediate medical or mental health needs.
• Stay calm. Reassure the kids involved, including bystanders.
• Model respectful behavior when you intervene.

Avoid these common mistakes:

• Don’t ignore it. Don’t think kids can work it out without adult help.
• Don’t immediately try to sort out the facts.
• Don’t force other kids to say publicly what they saw.
• Don’t question the children involved in front of other kids.
• Don’t talk to the kids involved together, only separately.
• Don’t make the kids involved apologize or patch up relations on the spot.

Get police help or medical attention immediately if:

• A weapon is involved.
• There are threats of serious physical injury.
• There are threats of hate-motivated violence, such as racism or homophobia.
• There is serious bodily harm.
• There is sexual abuse.
• Anyone is accused of an illegal act, such as robbery or extortion—using force to get money, property, or services.

Find Out What Happened

Whether you’ve just stopped bullying on the spot or a child has reached out to you for help, follow the steps below to determine the best way to proceed.

• Get the facts
• Determine if it’s Bullying
• Keep all the involved children separate.
• Get the story from several sources, both adults and kids.
• Listen without blaming.
• Don’t call the act “bullying” while you are trying to understand what happened.
• It may be difficult to get the whole story, especially if multiple students are involved or the bullying involves social bullying or cyberbullying. Collect all available information.

Support the Kids Involved

All kids involved in bullying—whether they are bullied, bully others, or see bullying—can be affected. It is important to support all kids involved to make sure the bullying doesn’t continue and effects can be minimized.

• Support Kids Who are Bullied
• Address Bullying Behavior
• Support Bystanders Who Witness Bullying

Be more than a bystander, be a supportive bystander

Tip 1: Be their friend

Children can help someone who’s been bullied by simply being nice to them at another time. Being friendly can go a long way toward letting them know they are not alone.

Tip 2: Tell a trusted adult

An adult can help stop bullying by intervening while it’s in progress, stopping it from occurring or simply giving the person bullied a shoulder to lean on.

Tip 3: Help them get away

There are a few simple, safe ways children can help the person being bullied get away from a situation. However they do it, make sure the child knows not to put themselves in harm’s way.

• Create a distraction
• Offer the person a way out, e.g., “Mr. Smith needs to see you right now.”
• Intervene only if it feels safe to do so. Never use violence to help the person get away.

Tip 4: Set a good example

If a child knows not to bully others, then other students will follow their example. To help even more, children can actively participate in anti-bullying activities and projects.

Tip 5: Don’t give bullying an audience

If one of your child’s friends or peers begins to bully someone, they shouldn’t encourage the behavior by giving it an audience. Instead of laughing or supporting it, they can let the bully know that such behavior isn’t entertaining.

If you want help in empowering the children in your community and schools contact The Utah Anti-Bullying Coalition http://www.utahantibullying.org/

Cyber-bullying, the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature, is also a problem in Utah schools.

The NetSafe Utah Project includes presentations, workshops and online resources for kids, teens, parents and educators. NetSafe Utah is adapted continually to provide Utah schools and communities the Internet Safety information they need and helps schools meet Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requirements.

Utah EMSC is excited to welcome Sarah Becker as our new Medical Director!

Dr. Sarah Becker received her medical degree from Midwestern University, completed her Pediatric residency at the University of Arizona, and her Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship at the University of Utah, Primary Children’s Hospital.

She is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Primary Children’s Hospital.

Her interests include pediatric EMS process improvement, specifically ways telemedicine technology can optimize the delivery of care to pediatric patients. She also continues work on airway management, using cognitive aids to streamline the process of pediatric intubation. She is board certified in pediatrics and in pediatric emergency medicine.

Keep this on your radar

In the last few months, have you treated or transported a first time "wheezer"? They are often in the grips of what looks like a full blow asthma attack but there is no history of asthma. They get an asthma treatment protocol of inhalers, steroids and even magnesium and you find out later they tested positive for rhinovirus.

We are seeing many of these situations at Primary Children's and in fact EDs across the country are seeing huge surges of children with upper respiratory infection (URI) and wheezing, many who have never had wheezing before. There is suspicion that kids testing positive for rhinovirus, in fact have another virus known as enterovirus strain D68 (EV-D68) and we are in the midst of an outbreak.

Making news right now are reports of Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) in children and its possible association with EV-D68.

What is Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM): https://www.cdc.gov/acute-flaccid-myelitis/about-afm.html.

• An uncommon but serious neurologic condition. It affects the nervous system, specifically the area of the spinal cord called gray matter, which causes the muscles and reflexes in the body to become weak.
• We have had cases of flaccid paralysis in Utah in kids.
• There have been every other year occurrences of AFM (2016, 2018, skipped 2020, seeing it now in 2022). Early research indicates there may be a relationship to an enterovirus strain 68.
  

The CDC has asked physicians and healthcare providers to be on alert for symptoms of AFM.

What are the symptoms of EV-D68 infection?

EV-D68 can cause mild to severe respiratory illness, or no symptoms at all.

• Mild symptoms may include runny nose, sneezing, cough, body aches, and muscle aches.
• Severe symptoms may include wheezing and difficulty breathing.

Anyone with respiratory illness should contact their doctor if they are having difficulty breathing or if their symptoms are getting worse. Seek immediate medical attention if you or your child develops any of these AFM symptoms following a respiratory illness:

• arm or leg weakness
• pain in the neck, back, arms, or legs
• difficulty swallowing or slurred speech
• difficulty moving the eyes or drooping eyelids
• facial droop or weakness

If there is concern for AFM, call or refer the patient to Primary Children's Hospital.

For more info:

https://www.cdc.gov/acute-flaccid-myelitis/cases-in-us.html

https://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/ev-d68.html

https://asm.org/Articles/2022/April/Enterovirus-D68-and-Acute-Flaccid-Myelitis

https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20140909/enterovirus-d68-parents

Pediatric Education for the Prehospital Provider

Register online at www.peppsite.com. Look up classes in Utah and find the one that works for you. Once you find the class, go to jblearning.com, and look up pepp als in the search tool. Purchase the number ($21.95). Return to peppsite.org to register for the class and follow the prompts.

If you have any questions, please email Erik Andersen at erikandersen@utah.gov or text/call 435-597-7098. Continue to watch the website for additional classes.