NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans mother is living what she calls “a parent’s nightmare” after her daughter was stuck by a used syringe while playing on her school’s playground.
When we went to the school the next day, we saw there were still several used syringes in the area.
Like other first-grade girls, Ta'leah Byes loves playing with dolls. At school her favorite subjects is art, but instead of being in the classroom today, she is dealing with something no 7-year-old should have to.
Ta'leah is taking a cocktail of prescriptions to prevent HIV infection. Doctors are worried she could have been exposed at recess on her school playground.
Monday morning, Kipp Central City Primary School called her mother to come pick her up after the child had to pull a used, dirty needle out of her side.
“I just went into panic mode,” Treshunna Byes, Ta’leah’s mother, said. “I was crying. I said ‘What you mean a needle? What kind of needle?’ She didn't really want to tell me then she finally said a syringe and I just, I just lost it.”
Her daughter told her that the syringe left a bump where it stuck her in her side and that it made her whole leg hurt.
Tuesday, the family decided to talk to attorney Lauren Favret.
“The community has a right to expect that schools are inspecting their property and premises and it's free from hazards that would cause such horrible harm,” Favret said. “Now, we have a 7-year-old child who really faces an uncertain future.”
She’s written the school and asked that they preserve any surveillance footage and the dirty syringe.
Tuesday, our news camera got shots of several used syringes near the school grounds.
Infectious disease and HIV specialist Dr. Markalain Dery of Tulane and Access Health says the combination of medications called NPEP are highly effective in preventing HIV. The risk of transmission is low, but any risk at all is a nightmare for this mom.
“It just was scary just for her to even have to be going through this,” (mom) said. “As a mother, it just hurts it really hurts.”
Dr. Dery isn’t Ta’leah’s doctor. He says the medication she’s on is given as a preventative to adults over the course of a month. Ta’leah’s mother says she’ll have to take it for several months.
Officials from Kipp New Orleans Schools said they “are currently investigating the matter” and will not comment “to protect the rights of the individual student involved.”
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