Vancouver elementary school student dies from brain injury

A Fisher’s Landing Elementary School student died Friday morning from a head injury that occurred Wednesday, possibly on the school playground.

The student’s name was not released at the request of the family, but KATU-TV reported that a family member contacted them and said the student was their 7-year-old daughter.

The family told the station that their daughter had walked home from school and told them there had been an accident on a swing set and that she felt dizzy. When her brother went to check on her later, the TV station reported, he found her sick in her bedroom.

The family called an ambulance, and the girl was transported to a PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, according to KATU. She was eventually transported to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, and doctors took her off life support Friday morning, the station said.

A letter informing school families of the student’s death was sent home Friday. The district’s grief counselors were available Friday at Fisher’s Landing Elementary.

“They will continue to be there for as long as they are needed,” said district spokeswoman Gail Spolar said.

The district said Friday that no one at the east Vancouver school saw the incident, and said the student didn’t tell anyone about it. It said the district and a third party investigator began an investigation that includes interviews with staff and a review of the weekly playground inspection reports.

The swings have not been removed.

“Nothing at the playground has been changed,” Spolar said.

According to KATU, the family gave them a statement that said they “want to thank the school and community for their thoughts and prayers as they honor our little girl’s memory and the gifts her tragedy will bring. At this time we are grateful for respect and privacy.”

Playground injuries

Between 2001 and 2008, an average of 218,851 preschool and elementary children received emergency department care for injuries that occurred on playground equipment, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Of the incidents reported, 67 percent involved falls or equipment failure. Forty deaths were associated with playground equipment between 2001 and 2008. The average age was 6 years. Seven deaths were the result of head or neck injuries. Swings account for 22 percent of playground injuries, and 3 percent of playground injuries resulted in death.

Schools in Richland are phasing out swings on their playgrounds. The district removed swings from some playgrounds and will phase them out of the rest. Pressure from insurance companies over the liability is part of the issue, the district says.

“As schools get modernized or renovated, or as we’re doing work on the playground equipment, we’ll take out the swings. It’s just really a safety issue; swings have been determined to be the most unsafe of all the playground equipment on a playground,” said Richland School District’s Steve Aagard in a report from KEPR, the CBS affiliate in Richland.