Sepsis is an often fatal, toxic response to infection by the body’s own normal immune system. It kills 4,400 American children every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Early treatment saves lives.

UFT Vice President Anne Goldman, the head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT and herself a nurse, is leading the union’s effort to alert UFT members and parents about the dangers of sepsis. 

Sepsis is triggered by an infection from a simple cut, scrape, burn or bug bite that can quickly spiral out of control. Sepsis develops when the body mounts an overwhelming attack against this infection that can cause inflammation in the entire body and eventually leads to plummeting blood pressure and organ failure.

It is called a “hidden killer” because people are not aware of the symptoms and it is often misdiagnosed even in hospitals. Time matters in treating it. When recognized in its early stages, sepsis is easily treated with an inexpensive antibiotic.

Between 1 million and 3 million Americans are diagnosed with sepsis each year, and 15 to 30 percent of them will die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sepsis kills more Americans than breast cancer, prostate cancer and AIDS combined [see chart]. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable.

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The UFT and NYSUT are working with the Rory Staunton Foundation to raise awareness, provide educational information and establish early detection protocols. 

The foundation was established by the parents of a New York City student after his death from sepsis in 2012. Rory, a 12-year-old Queens student, cut his elbow playing basketball and got a Band-Aid to cover the wound. He was not sent to the school nurse; nor was the scrape cleaned or treated. When Rory developed a high fever, nausea and pain in his leg the next day, he was taken to the hospital but doctors later sent him home after administering fluids. He died in the intensive care unit three days later from severe septic shock.

“The first line of defense against sepsis is in our schools and in day care,” Goldman said. “So we at the union have rolled up our sleeves because that’s what we do.” 

The UFT has helped develop lesson plans and curriculum about sepsis for teachers and child care providers to make students and parents aware. Sepsis information will be available at all UFT parent conferences this fall. The UFT is lobbying for a school nurse in every school. Rory’s parents will speak at a Nov. 15 gathering of UFT retirees to alert them to the vulnerability of the elderly to sepsis. The union also backs federal legislation to require hospitals to screen all new patients for sepsis.

“Our goal is to educate our members and parents to recognize sepsis signs as readily as they recognize a heart attack or a stroke,” said Goldman. “If a child care provider, an educator or a parent sees the symptoms in a child, he or she can suggest the diagnosis to a health care provider who may otherwise overlook it.”