McCaela Smith Recognized Serious Illness in Student Who Stopped by for a Visit
ROME, Ga., Sept. 4, 2025 – When students in our community returned to school this month, 44 Atrium Health Floyd school nurses joined them on campuses across the area, and one Cedartown mom is particularly grateful.
With just two weeks to go in the school year last year, Kayla Shaw received a call from McCaela Smith, the nurse at Cedartown High School. That call illustrated to Shaw just how vital these health practitioners are. Floyd has provided school nurses to Rome and Floyd County schools since 2016 and to Polk County schools since 2017.
Shaw’s son, Rylei, now a Cedartown High School senior, has severe reactions to tree and grass pollen every spring. He takes medicine twice a day and receives a shot once a week. So, when he called his mom to come and get him from school, his request wasn’t that unusual. It was springtime, the time of year when Rylei’s allergies give him a run for his money.
Rather than take him out of class, Shaw told her son he should go see the school nurse.
“Rylei’s really not a complainer. I told him, ‘Go to the nurse and let her check you out.’ That’s what she’s there for,’” Shaw remembers.
Not long after her son had called, Shaw received a second call. This time it was from Smith. Rylei’s blood pressure was elevated, and his heart rate was erratic. Rylei needed to go to the emergency room.
Once at Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center, doctors suspected Rylei had a collapsed lung. An MRI confirmed their suspicions. Surprising to Shaw, a collapsed lung, or spontaneous pneumothorax in medical terms, is relatively common in tall, thin teenage males. Still, it can be a medical emergency in severe cases like Rylei’s.
When a chest tube did not allow his lung to reinflate, Rylei was transferred to Scottish Rite Hospital where a larger tube was inserted. Unfortunately, that treatment was unsuccessful as well, and surgery was required to repair the air leak in Rylei’s lung. Three days later, he was home, talking on the phone with his friends – a fact Shaw still has trouble conceiving.
“It went from scary to normal in a matter of three days,” she said. “That is just mind-blowing.”
Shaw also pointed out that Smith’s care didn’t end with that fateful phone call. The nurse called throughout Rylei’s hospitalization and recovery to check on him.
Now, Rylei is driving again, mowing the family lawn and starting his final year of high school.
“He’s doing great,” his mom said. “I’m glad I didn’t just go get him. Going to the school nurse made a difference. I’m glad she was there that day.”
“I am so thankful that McCaela used her nursing skills and knowledge, combined with her caring nature to take the time and attention to c heck this student’s vital signs multiple times and realize that there was indeed a problem,” said Dr. Matthew Anderson, Atrium Health senior vice president for clinical transformation. “Had this student experienced this issue a week late, school would have been out for the summer, and this student may not have gotten the immediate attention he needed.”
About Atrium Health Floyd
The Atrium Health Floyd family of health care services is a leading medical provider and economic force in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Floyd strategically combined with Harbin Clinic in 2024 and employs more than 5,200 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at four facilities: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center – a 361-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center in Rome, Georgia; Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia; and Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; and Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health, also in Rome. Together, Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic provide primary care, specialty care and urgent care throughout northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd also operates a stand-alone emergency department in Chattooga County, the first such facility to be built from the ground-up in Georgia.
About Advocate Health
Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names
Advocate Health Care in Illinois;
Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and
Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with
Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Advocate Health is nationally recognized for its expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs more than 160,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation's largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to redefining care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.