Twenty-one preschoolers attending a Lauderhill preschool called Ave Marie Friends located in Broward County, Florida were rushed to hospitals on Monday after they fell ill. According to officials, the children got sick after eating lunch.
NBC Miami reported that Lauderhill Fire Rescue confirmed that 21 of the kids were taken to area hospitals and are expected to be okay. Lauderhill Fire Department Assistant Chief Jeff Levy also noted that the preschool gets catering from an outside source regarding the foods of the children.
The incident is being investigated after samples from the lunch food served during that day were bagged and labeled. Tests are to be made on the samples.
Officials did not disclose where the food came from. The preschool has good standing as per recent investigation but some parents expressed that they are disappointed with the incident.
An aunt of one child said that the parents or guardians should have been called as soon as possible, CBS reported. The staff at the preschool reportedly asked the children to be taken to the hospitals but some parents believed that they should have been contacted first because they should know about what happened to their children.
Children were loaded into ambulances and rushed to hospitals after officials received calls about children throwing up, felling nauseous, having diarrhea and suffering from dehydration. Some children were not affected in the incident. A total of eight students were not taken to the hospital, as per the discretion of their parents.
Hazmat crews were also called into the preschool. They cleared the preschool from dangerous substances as there were no threats found.
Meanwhile, it is unclear if the Lauderhill preschool remains to be closed. There are also no updates as to how many of the 21 children hospitalized remain admitted in the hospital. It is also unclear if charges will be filed.
