Kids Hurt In Evanston Bus Crash Get Treated To Barbecue
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS/WBBM) -- A school bus accident in downtown Evanston Tuesday had a happy ending for the students onboard.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Bob Roberts reports, several of the children who were shaken up ended up at a hospital barbecue before being sent home.
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St. Francis Hospital in Evanston hosts the barbecue each year, as a gesture of thanks for area EMS personnel.
The burgers were on when the children arrived, and when someone mentioned that the children were hungry, emergency room personnel invited them to take part.
Nurse Adam Greenberg said the children loved it.
"It closed the event on a happy note, instead of, 'Oh my God, what happened, I'm at the hospital,' it's like, 'Oh, we went to the hospital and we had a cookout!'" he said.
One mother who arrived to take her son home was also invited to eat.
Hospital personnel even gave the little girls makeup mirrors.
Greenberg says he's hoping one of the children had such a good time that he'll consider a career in medicine. But that's a few field trips from now.
The students were all from Rowe Elementary Charter School, at 1454 W. Superior St. in the West Town neighborhood, and were taking a field trip to Northwestern University, Evanston police said.
One bus had 24 people aboard, the other 26. In total, 21 people – one adult and 20 children, were taken to area hospitals.
Evanston Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther said that the buses were one behind the other at the stop light at Chicago Avenue and Davis Street, heading northbound on Chicago Avenue. When the light turned green, the first bus began to move, but had to stop short because of traffic in front of him.
The driver of the second bus allegedly told police he was looking in his mirror and did not see the bus ahead. Evanston Fire Chief Greg Klaiber said the second bus rear-ended the first "with fairly high impact."
Parents, teachers and Rowe's principal were on board the buses. They oversaw the students who escaped injury and then led them on foot to the Northwestern campus for the field trip.
