Triton school staff members use lifesaving technique -- twice

Source: Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.迷你倉最平Oct. 29--It all happened so fast that 30-year Triton School District bus driver Rick Schletty doesn't remember what made him realize a second-grade student on his bus was choking.He thinks one of the other students might have actually said the words "she's choking!" But he's not sure.All he knows for certain is that "all of a sudden, here she stood" with her hands at her throat.The bus had not yet left the school grounds, so Schetty stopped the bus where it was. He "hollered on the radio to the school nurse," then quickly stood to perform the Heimlich maneuver, putting his arm around the student's abdomen and giving a quick, upward thrust."I think I pulled on her three times with one arm ... all of a sudden, here she was holding a big chunk of gum in her hand," Schletty said.The Oct. 4 lifesaving technique was the second Heimlich performed in the Triton School District in three weeks.School nurse Cori Jennings says choking hazards are among the biggest risks for school-age children, and the American Pediatric Association has increasingly asked schools to disallow cough drops and hard candies for students ages 9 and younger.Amy Woxland, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade science at Triton, was helping a group of seventh-grade students in mid-September when "the kids just pointed at this other kid and said, 'He's choking! He's choking!'""I just yelled at my students to go get the school nurse," Woxland said.Woxland performed the Heimlich -- and out came a large jawbreaker.Woxland didn't have time to get nervous about the student's life hanging in the balance. Not until she got rid of the jaw breaker."After it came out, then that's when it kind of hit me like, holy buckets, look what just happened, and we all kind of got teary-eyed," she said."You and I are bonded for life," s迷你倉e told the student (school officials have not publicly named either student).The frightening scenario happened in September, and it affected Woxland's classroom climate. She and the kids didn't know each other too well yet. The shared experience gave them a common bond."That just brought that group of students and me together," Woxland said.The students have told her she's a hero."They're very serious about it," she says.But, from her perspective, the situation demonstrates something important: You really can save a life with a simple technique.Why is choking a hazard for kids?"The airways with these kiddos is so small to begin with," Jennings said. If a cough drop or candy gets wedged in the throat it can cause tissues to inflame, narrowing the airway further.The classic sign of choking is hands to the throat and a distressed look. Jennings said her own middle-school daughter choked once on a hard candy, and Jennings herself performed the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge it.There's a choking incident in the school system about once per year, Jennings said, so it's "not uncommon at all."Schletty said you don't think about what you're doing at the time. "You just do it."A few years ago, school district staff membersreceived basic first-aid training, including information about the Heimlich maneuver, Schletty said."Basically that's where I learned it, was through the school district ... I'm fortunate I know how to do it," he said.Her students' shared experience, Woxland said, is probably something "they're going to talk about that situation probably for the rest of their lives.""I'm just really glad that I was in the room...it scares me to think about what could have happened," she said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Post-Bulletin Visit the Post-Bulletin at .postbulletin.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存