By Mary Owen
Tribune staff reporter
Chicago Tribune
Copyright 2007 Chicago Tribune Company
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Nine members of a Schaumburg church were hospitalized Sunday after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning while on their way to Wisconsin for a youth volleyball camp.
Six teenage girls and three adults became ill because of a faulty exhaust system in their 10-seat bus, authorities said. The group left Bethel Baptist Church about 3 p.m. Sunday and reported feeling sick near Rockford. About 4:20 p.m. they stopped in a Wal-Mart parking lot near Interstate Highway 90 in Janesville, Wis., and called for medical assistance, said Janesville Fire Shift Cmdr. Tim Ehlers.
When paramedics arrived, four people were “slipping in and out of consciousness,” Ehlers said.
The nine people were taken to Mercy Hospital in Janesville complaining of nausea, dizziness and headaches, Ehlers said. Three teenagers were flown via helicopter to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee. A nursing supervisor said the girls were in stable condition and expected to be released late Sunday.
The girls are members of the volleyball team at Schaumburg Christian School, which is affiliated with Bethel, 200 N. Roselle Rd., assistant pastor Jonathan Stanley said.
The group was headed to a weeklong volleyball camp that starts Monday at Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wis., said Laurie Pfaffe, assistant director of the camp. She said one member of the team drove separately and arrived at the camp safely.
Many church members were informed of the incident during a Sunday night service at Bethel.
“The vast majority of the girls are fine and coming back home,” Stanley said. “The church is upbeat and ready to assist. We’re not discouraged; we know the Lord is going to take care of them.”