This Story of a School Bus Driver Getting Hypothermia Will Give You Chills - Trending In America - Peabody, MA Patch

This Story of a School Bus Driver Getting Hypothermia Will Give You Chills - Trending In America - Peabody, MA Patch

A school bus driver in Illinois said she was treated for hypothermia at a hospital emergency room after her employer ignored her repeated pleas that her bus be replaced with one with a working heater during subzero conditions.

Elisha
Jones, a driver for Illinois Central School Bus, said that when she
first got on her bus about 7 a.m. Jan. 23, she complained that it was
cold, but her supervisors insisted the bus would warm up before she
picked up the first children on her route.

A check of the archives on FriendlyForecast.com shows
the temperature in Wheaton, Illinois, from 7 to 8 a.m. that day was -3
degrees, with winds of 19.6 mph and gusts to 27.6 mph. The National Weather Service’s wind chill calculator put the wind chill values for that morning from -26 to as low as -29 degrees.

Much of the country has been grappling with extreme cold temperatures.

Jones
said she was alarmed her employer would show such great disregard for
Monroe Middle School students on her route and for her own safety.

“We
are aware that there was a bus issue last week involving one of the
routes for Monroe,” Wheaton Community Unit School District 200 Public
Relations Director Erica Loiacono wrote in response to an inquiry from
Wheaton Patch. “The Principal was onsite and handled the situation
appropriately. We are following up with Illinois Central accordingly.”