Longtime Schaumburg High School employee saves student from choking

For the second time in her 27 years as a student supervisor at Schaumburg High School, Becky McNamee saved a student from choking on food using the Heimlich maneuver.

And it was the third time in her life. She also applied it to her daughter when she was choking at 1½ years old.

The Sept. 15 incident, about 15 years after the previous occasion at the school, occurred when she was approached by junior Kevin Serrano. He’d been eating in the cafe area of the school’s media center where a number of students prefer to have lunch.

“Kevin came behind the counter and he was showing us with his hands that he was choking,” McNamee said.

For Kevin, it was a feeling he’d not experienced before.

“I was sitting down and eating a burger and then I couldn’t breathe,” he said.

Though it took about 10 seconds to walk over to McNamee, his entire period of breathlessness was harder to measure.

McNamee turned the student around and began to apply the Heimlich maneuver. There was a moment when Kevin appeared to indicate he was OK, but then the problem persisted.

McNamee was beginning to feel her second attempt wasn’t working on the taller student. She had just suggested he place himself over a nearby piano bench to use it as an aid when the food finally became dislodged.

“After a while I was just grateful she had saved me from choking,” Kevin said. “I feel that it should be something everyone should be taught.”

Principal Tom Mocon said the school community is grateful someone with the knowledge was close enough to help Kevin.

McNamee had just accepted another staff member’s offer to relieve her in the cafe but had not yet left the room when Kevin approached. She said she feels a special bond with the students who use the small gathering space and tend not to be on their phones there.

“It was a real emotional experience,” she said of the rescue.

And she was honored for it by Schaumburg Fire Chief Fabio Puccini at last week’s Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board meeting.

“This is a special deal for us also,” he said. “We teach CPR and first aid and the Heimlich maneuver to many people every year. It’s not often, fortunately enough, that we have these opportunities to come face to face with a first responder, a civilian who actually performs it.”

As such, he presented McNamee with the department’s Civilian Life Safety Award — adding that about 5,500 people had died from choking in 2023.

“So from your actions you definitely prevented a statistic from happening,” Puccini said. “Ms. McNamee’s quick thinking, composure and refusal to give up exemplified true heroism and compassion. Her actions embody the highest ideals of care, courage and service to others.”

Board of Education President Steven Rosenblum also extended the congratulations of District 211.

“Thank you, Becky, for all that you’ve done and in saving the life of one of our students and a member of the community.”