Erika Fisher arrived at the Redmond High School (RHS) homecoming game a few weeks ago expecting to have a good time and cheer on the Mustangs.

She ended up possibly saving another student’s life.

That evening, as she and her friend made their way through the RHS parking lot toward the football field, they saw a student leaning against a car, not looking well. The 16-year-old junior approached the boy and asked him if he was OK. His response was slurred so she put his arm around her shoulder and worked to move him to another part of the lot, behind some bushes, so they would be out of plain view.

The longer she sat with him, the worse his condition got: He kept saying he wanted to take a nap and his sentences weren’t making sense; he was no longer able to hold himself up and his eyes would roll back as he tried to lie down on the ground.

“Then I started crying,” Fisher said, adding that she was shaking and sobbing. “I was really scared.”

At that point, she said, she tried calling her friend who had already gone into the game. But her cell phone kept dropping the calls and the boy — a senior who Fisher did not know, but had seen around campus — did not have a cell phone on him. Eventually, two of her teammates from the RHS volleyball team and one of the girls’ family approached the pair. After assessing the situation, the father of the family called 911.

Meanwhile, Fisher’s friends inside the gates were trying to track down some of the boy’s friends. She said she could not understand how someone could leave their friend when he was so sick.

“He was in really bad condition,” Fisher said about the boy.

She admitted that when they found one of his friends, she was not happy.

“I yelled at his friend,” Fisher said.

When Cindy Copeland, Fisher’s mother, heard about her daughter’s actions from another parent a few days later, she felt pride.

“I know she acted as an adult, not a kid that was on her way to meet friends at homecoming football game,” Copeland said. “She showed compassion, humanity, selflessness — I couldn’t be more proud of the young adult I am raising. All I can do as a parent is talk to her, be here for her and hope in life she chooses right from wrong and stays safe.”

The boy was taken to the hospital via ambulance and has since made a full recovery. Fisher said he sent her a message on Facebook, thanking her for what she did. She added that she has also seen the boy around school and in the halls now, as well.

Copeland said in addition to thanking her, the boy has also apologized to Fisher for putting her through such an ordeal.

“She told me he is a nice boy that made a bad decision,” she said about her daughter.

DISTRICT POLICY

Fisher said she doesn’t know what caused the boy to get so sick — whether he had consumed too much alcohol or was on other substances — but one of the reasons she moved him to a more secluded area of the parking lot was because she didn’t want adults to see him and get him in trouble. She added that she knew he was also a student athlete and that if he was caught, that could be taken away from him.

Matt Gillingham, director of student services for the Lake Washington School District (LWSD), said they have a process they follow if a student is found — on campus as well as at school functions that are happening off campus — under the influence or in possession of any sort of substance.

At the high school level, he said the administrators will intervene and they will work with school resource officers on the issue. Gillingham said the district will also interview the student in question and there could also be a potential search of the subject. Once this is completed, the district will take corrective action.

Gillingham said the objective is to hold students accountable for making unsafe choices. LWSD will also work to make sure students have access to help and support if they need it so they can make healthier choices in the future.

Last year, the district instituted a disciplinary policy that had high school students serving in-school suspension if they were caught under the influence or in possession of any sort of substance. Gillingham said previously, students would serve out-of-school suspension for such offenses.

With in-school suspension, students still attend school, but their movements are limited to a single room. Gillingham said the students work with administrators and counselors to take ownership of their actions and school officials can connect them with chemical-dependency and intervention specialists if needed.

In addition, students serving in-school suspension also receive school work and assignments from their classes so they do not fall behind academically.

Gillingham said after one year of this policy, they saw fewer students committing infractions, but they also saw fewer repeat infractions.

He said LWSD also contracts with Youth Eastside Services (YES) for additional support in cases involving substance abuse.

HELP WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

When it comes to substance abuse treatment, YES provides a number of different services.

According to the organization’s website, some of those services include individual and family counseling,  treatment groups, recovery groups and parent support groups.

In addition, Andrea Frost, prevention intervention specialist and supervisor for YES, said if a youth needs more support, they will refer them to other services such as Alcoholics Anonymous, crisis hotlines and more.

She said their objective is focused on educating young people about different substances.

Frost said they work to explain that there is a reason why it is legal for adults to drink — teens’ brains and bodies are still developing and drugs and alcohol can affect how that development continues.

Friends of Youth (FOY) is another community nonprofit that offers substance-abuse services.

Marie MacCoy, director of youth and family services, said they offer outpatient mental health and substance counseling. At their Duvall, Snoqualmie and Issaquah locations, they have one-day Alcohol/Drug Information School. At the FOY locations in Redmond and Kirkland, they have onsite mental health therapists. FOY can also refer clients to in-patient services in which the individual will go and stay at a specific location for an extended stay for treatment.

MacCoy said their substance-abuse services are available to young people until the age of 21; mental-health services are available until the age of 24.

She added that some of the most common substances they see being used among teens include marijuana and alcohol — typically beer. They also see teens mixing alcohol with energy drinks. MacCoy said when it comes to drug use, the substances come and go in phases. Currently, they are seeing a lot of heroin and medication typically used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) such as Adderall. About three years ago, MacCoy said they saw a lot of methamphetamine usage.

REPORTING TO PARENTS AND AUTHORITIES

While addressing substance abuse often involves working with a youth’s family, both MacCoy and Gillingham acknowledged that getting parents involved may not always be the safest route for the young person.

MacCoy said once a youth is 13, they can choose whether to involve their parents in their treatment, which is good and bad. She said it’s good in situations where parents are negligent or if the youth lives on the street — they don’t need parental consent.

“It’s a double-edged sword, that’s for sure,” she said.

Gillingham said at the schools, the age 13 threshold applies to medical consent, but when it comes to disciplinary action, they are required to involve parents until students are 18. At that age, students can choose to include their parents in the conversation or not.

However, he said, if staff or faculty think a student is being abused or neglected, they can choose not to notify parents. While this may be the case, Gillingham said the district is a mandatory reporter and they would have to notify child protection services with their suspicions.

In addition to these protections to the young people seeking help, Frost said Washington state has a good Samaritan law that protects youth if they report a situation so they don’t have to fear getting in trouble.

For example, if a teen is at a party where there are drugs and alcohol and someone gets sick or overdoses, they can call 911 for help without fearing legal ramifications.

Fisher said she had actually learned about this good Samaritan law earlier in the day before the homecoming game, which is why she was not worried about getting in trouble for helping the other student.

From this experience, she said it is always better to be safe than sorry and encourages teens to seek help if they find themselves in a similar situation.

“It’s scary, but you should always try to do the right thing,” she said.