Teacher Returns to Teaching After Recovery from Fall

It all happened so quickly. One minute, Madame Losey was walking into school, and the next she was lying on the cold cement, dazed and confused. She assured the people gathered around her that she could get up and continue with her day.

Office secretary Gayle O’Grady was walking in front of her and saw the fall happen.

“I ran back to her, which probably wasn’t a smart idea because it was kind of slick,” O’Grady said. “ We called the nurse and she brought a wheelchair, but she really just wanted to get up. She is very tough.”

Losey didn’t realize the seriousness of her fall. She didn’t realize she had broken five ribs and punctured a lung. The only thing on her mind was the test that she had to give in less than an hour.

Ignoring the pain, she went upstairs to the fifth floor and was determined to give the eight sentence dictation test to her French 3 class. But she couldn’t make it through. By sentence seven, she was short of breath and tired.
“I knew that the being sleepy part wasn’t good because of an experience with [another heart condition called] supraventricular tachycardia,” Losey said. “But my body had to have been in some type of shock because nobody could believe I lasted even that long.”
Losey was then admitted to the hospital.  In addition to the broken ribs and punctured lung, her lung was partially collapsed. The doctors made a decision to wait to see if it would inflate. It didn’t. One chest tube, many doses of narcotics and six days later, she was sent home for a long road of recovery.
Fast forward through six weeks of painful recovery to Losey’s return to school. Her first day back was long and exhausting, filled with struggles with everyday things such as tying a shoe or entering grades. An accidental cough or laugh doubled her over in pain. But for Losey, it was worth it. As always, her students came first.
“My first day back was emotionally rewarding because my students were so welcoming,” Losey said. “I got hugs and I had people come that didn’t even have me that day.”
French 6 student and co-president of FNHS Lauren Stanley was elated when Losey finally returned to class.
“It’s so good to have her back,” Stanley said. “We all clapped when she walked back in the classroom for the first time.”
Because of the close relationships Losey has built with her students, it is no surprise that they formed a great support system. Constant texts, emails and homemade cards flooded her inbox asking how she was doing. Stanley attributes Losey’s closeness with her students to her undying commitment to them.
“She cares so much more about the students than their grade in her class,” Stanley said. “She will stay for an hour after school if you need help with something. She really wants you to understand French and learn French to better yourself and understand other cultures.”
In addition to the encouragement received from the students, Losey has also seen an outpouring of support from her co-workers. On top of an overwhelming amount of flowers and phone calls, they also provided her with home cooked meals.
“It was incredible because coming from France you don’t see that kind of support,” Losey said. “It is special to the U.S. and particularly this part of the country. I’m surrounded by wonderful people.”
Losey has also received reassurance that the slippery sidewalks will be taken care of. In order to make sure a fall like this doesn’t happen again, there is  a new system of ice prevention being implemented. Losey’s fall raised the question that has arisen multiple times: how to deal with the snow effectively. According to Dr. Krawitz, the system was set up the day after her fall.
“The school district started treating the lots at 3 a.m. in the morning before anyone arrived,” Krawitz said. “They started to re-salt and sand this area so that it would have at least two or three hours of working time.
With the topography of the land, there is no permanent solution to deal with the slippery sidewalks. The only thing they can do is work to maintain the amount of ice on the ground.

“This new system is going to have to be a standing procedure from this point forward,” Krawitz said.
Although she has received an incredible amount of support and reassurance from students and coworkers, this journey has been filled with equal amounts of hardship. While Losey remained at home, she still had to remain in the picture somewhat for the students. Despite doctor’s warnings not to exert herself, Losey proceeded to create lesson plans for the substitute, grade compositions and communicate with her students about their progress.  She pushed through the pain that came with bending over to grade and the exhaustion that came with reading long works. She was determined that her students would not fall behind.
“Just because I get sick doesn’t mean the AP or IB tests are going to wait six weeks,” Losey said. “My curriculum will stay the same. We will be ready.”
This persistent attitude is something that Losey consistently demonstrates. French 4 student Marston Fries sees this as being beneficial to their learning.
“She is definitely not lenient on grading and she makes the tests hard but she just expects a lot out of us,” Fries said. “But that is good because it pushes us.”