Hanover Park teacher uses Heimlich maneuver to help choking student
Kindergarten students at Anne Fox School in Hanover Park Monday morning received a lifelong lesson on the power of knowledge when their teacher saved one of their classmates from choking on a grape using the Heimlich maneuver.
Teacher Jill Mikesell was walking around the classroom during midmorning snack time when the 6-year-old boy suddenly stood up from the table and turned toward her with a panicked look on his face.
When she asked him a question and he didn't answer, she knew something must be bothering him. But when she patted him on the back and asked again without a reply, she knew it was more than something on his mind.
"I thought, 'Oh no, this is not good!'" Mikesell said.
Most of the other students in the room were completely unaware of what was transpiring during their break, but Mikesell stood behind the boy and gently applied the Heimlich maneuver just below his ribs.
A moment later, an intact grape was on the floor in front of them.
Mikesell said the boy was behaving perfectly well and not goofing around before the incident, but that it must have been just one of those occasions when one inhales at the wrong moment and food goes down the wrong pipe.
He remained a little shaken after the incident, but soon recovered and the rest of the day went on as normal. Though other students hadn't noticed what was happening, she used the occasion to explain what had happened and how the boy had done the right thing in calling attention to himself.
Later in the day, the class was going on a field trip and teachers were repeating the rules for being on the bus, including not eating or drinking.
"Or you might choke," some students chimed in.
Though Mikesell hadn't been retrained in the Heimlich maneuver in some time, she said it's knowledge that never truly lapses in the way that CPR training might.
The next day her fellow faculty members surprised her with a congratulatory cake decorated with Lifesavers candies.
Mikesell said since the scary incident, the student has brought applesauce to eat at snack time.