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Jersey Village High School senior Natalie Brown’s humble persona makes her unwilling to be called a hero. Her actions on Oct. 8
would prove otherwise.
During her Early Childhood Professions class that day, Brown was monitoring the
playground when she noticed one of the pre-school students, Frankie Escalante,
having an allergic reaction. When she spotted a rapid development of hives on
the 4-year-old
’s body, she knew he had been stung by a wasp.
“Part of it was the things I’ve learned here in ECP, and the other part was straight gut,” Brown said. “I said to myself, ‘I need to do something about this right now.’ So I picked him up and took him to the nurse.”
As she scooped the boy up she called for a classmate to retrieve his medical
records, then made a dash for the clinic. On the way there, Brown observed that
his air passages were closing. She spotted some assistant principals along the
way and told them to radio school nurse Sally Syer to prepare for her arrival.
“Natalie did not have a cell phone on her, and our location at the back of the
school is a new area unknown to the Jersey Village Emergency Services team,
” explained ECP teacher Judy Thrall. “She absolutely did the best thing for the
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child in the emergency situation with her wild run. Had she simply brought him
inside to ice down the hives or cool him down from the heat it would have
possibly cost the life of the child.
”
Syer called for a city of Jersey Village ambulance, and paramedics arrived
shortly after Brown arrived at the clinic. They administered a shot of
epinephrine before rushing Frankie to the hospital. Thrall contacted Frankie
’s mother, Jean Escalante, a JVHS teacher, so she could meet her son there.
At this point the adrenaline left Brown’s system and she broke down.
“It wasn’t scary at the time because I wasn’t thinking about fear, but then it hit me,” she said. “After I left the nurse’s office I came back to the ECP room and I cried for a good 20 minutes. I was so
terrified for him.
”
During sixth period, Thrall received a call from Rob Missall, one of the
paramedics who was on the ambulance. Frankie would be fine, but only because of
Brown
’s response.
“He called me and told me that they did not think they were going to make it to
the hospital and said that it was a very close call,
” Thrall said. “Natalie’s quick thinking made the difference. A life was saved.”
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