This scenario has the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy in that so many things must and do go wrong for there to be an unfortunate outcome. As a friend of a number of asthmatics, I can say that most people with a propensity for asthma attacks should (and often do) carry their own inhalers, even in elementary school. Second, the office seems like it could use some organizing, and it may have been a good idea for the nurse to leave some instructions with the office assistant for the days that there will be no nurse on duty. Or at least label the cabinets so that the asthma meds wouldn't be mixed up with the bandaids and lollipops.
More pertinently, our healthcare system could use an overhaul so that a career in nursing is a bit more appealing, and 3 schools wouldn't have to share a single nurse (afterall, the need for nurses is ubiquitous in nearly every branch of healthcare). This could include the government subsidizing nursing school programs, offering higher wages and better hours for nurses, more attractive insurance policies, and other incentives for nurses working full time or in schools, etc. Perhaps we could also instate a universal healthcare system so that the parents of our unfortunate 9 year old wouldn't have to worry about paying for expensive inhaler refills, and she could see a doctor more regularly to keep her medication current and appropriate. And while we're on the subject of overhauls, the education system could also use more funding (so that they can afford a nurse for more than 1.7 days per week, not to mention the raising the quality of education), and we could also clean up the Port of Los Angeles and develop a very comprehensive, super green public transport system to lower the pollution level in the city so that asthma rates wouldn't be so high in the first place. Also, I'm a big fan of the metric system.
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