KETTERING — The former head custodian at Fairmont High School died last May in part from Legionnaires’ disease. The news of Legionella being found in the school’s water system last month has his son is now raising questions and concerns about what happened to his dad.
Keith “Casey” Chaffin died May 5, 2019. His last shift at the high school was less than a month earlier, April 15, Kettering school officials said Thursday. He began working at Fairmont High in September 2018, but had worked in other parts of the district before that, according to his son.
“(He) had been around the Kettering High School and district for 20 years,” said Jason Chaffin, Casey’s son.
Chaffin said he recalled his father suddenly becoming very ill last April.
“He tried to sleep it off. The next day he thought it was turning into the flu,” Jason Chaffin said. “He was throwing up, he was nauseous, he had a fever, and for about three days there he was trying to fight it off himself.”
Casey Chaffin’s death certificate read that he died from Legionella pneumonia, multi-system organ failure and acute systolic heart failure, a spokeswoman with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office said.
After reaching out to Kettering City Schools, News Center 7 uncovered a timeline of when Legionella was found in the high school’s water system last month. Our investigation uncovered one of the areas where the bacteria was found was in the head custodian office’s restroom sink, an area Chaffin would have frequented.
“I was stunned, but also at the same time not stunned or not shocked,” Jason Chaffin said.
Legionella is a bacteria that can cause a serious type of pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Legionella can become a health concern when it grows and spreads in human-made building water systems.
The district hired Solid Blend Water Management Solution to test all of the water systems on the high school campus last week on June 25, three days after the district was notified of an employee being diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease.
The district’s Business Services Director Ken Lackey “received the preliminary results of the testing on June 29, and the water systems campus wide were disinfected on July 1,” said Kettering City Schools spokeswoman Kari Basson, noting that the testing results were preliminary and full results won’t be known for 10 to 14 days.
Basson said they were notified that Casey Chaffin’s death was attributed in part to Legionnaires’ disease, Basson said.
Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County “has to do an investigation in such cases, per their protocol, and they did contact us to do that investigation, so yes, we were notified,” Basson said. We’re working to uncover what that investigation may have found.
On Wednesday, the district told News Center 7 that Legionella was found in four different locations within the high school when the testing was conducted last week. Those areas included the private head custodian office bathroom sink, men’s restroom in the main lobby area, central unit women’s restroom and the south unit men’s restroom.
Basson told News Center 7 a custodian would have frequented all of those areas as they are responsible for cleaning them.
Jason Chaffin said the recent discovery is raising more concerns about what really happened to his dad.
“It’s hard to put into words what the feeling is knowing that you went a full year of not knowing how your dad passed away,” Jason Chaffin said.
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