LUBBOCK, Texas – A 12-year-old girl has recently been released from UMC after suffering a head injury at school.
Yamileth Gonzalez of Roswell, New Mexico, was airlifted to UMC on Monday night for emergency surgery. Yamileth was in P.E. at Mesa Middle School when a student threw a gym mat in the air, striking Yamileth, and causing her to hit a cement wall.
According to the family, Yamileth complained of a headache throughout the day and went to the nurse, who conducted head trauma protocol, but deemed it was not an emergency situation and sent Yamileth back to class.
“The kids say she was just crying and crying,” said Bertha Gonzalez, Yamileth’s mother.
Gonzalez said the school called her and she missed the call, but is upset that the school did not call the other individuals on Yamileth’s emergency contact list.
According to Gonzalez, she took her daughter to a Roswell hospital where doctors performed an CT scan and determined Yamileth was bleeding internally from her head. She was airlifted to Lubbock later that night.
“As soon as we got here, they told me she needed a sugery like soon as possible becuase my daughter was dying,” said Gonzalez.
Yamileth underwent surgery on Tuesday. Gonzalez said doctors were successfully able to stop the bleeding.
Below is the statement from Roswell Independent School District:
“The nurse at Mesa Middle School conducted a complete head trauma protocol on the student and based upon her observations, deemed it was not an emergency situation. The student informed school officials that the other numbers on her emergency contact list would more than likely not answer the phone, therefore they did not call those individuals. The student was in the Mesa Middle School gymnasium when the incident occurred, but the student left the viewing area of cameras located in the gym at the time of her injury. We have spoken with the student’s mother twice and both occasions were positive exchanges. It’s heartbreaking that this situation occurred to a student and if we could have prevented it, we would have.”