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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Aide doesn't choke under pressure / Staff member uses Heimlich maneuver at Freedom Elementary three times in seven years
By BROOKE NELSONHOOPER -- Lunchroom aide Kris Manning stands tall at Freedom Elementary School, despite being just 4 feet 11 inches and weighing about 100 pounds.
Manning saved a Freedom Elementary student from choking on an orange last week by administering the Heimlich maneuver.
It's at least the third time she's saved a child from choking in her seven years as a lunchroom aide.
"A bunch of kids came up to me and told me there was a little girl that was choking," she said. "It just clicks in and I just do it. It's hard to explain."
In-service training at work covering CPR, the Heimlich and other first aid practices have kept her skills current, she said.
"I think it's really important to take a class to learn it. If I can do it, anybody can do it," she said. "Half these kids are bigger than I am."
Training and experience have taught Manning there's no time to deliberate when someone is choking.
"I'm not scared -- I just do it. I think it's the adrenaline," she said.
The day before the most recent choking incident at Freedom Elementary, Manning said she had to give the Heimlich to her toddler-aged niece, who was choking on a banana.
"It's crazy," she said of the amount of choking incidents she's helped to end.
Freedom Elementary Principal Darlene Bell said it's rare for choking to occur and that there have been few incidents since the school opened seven years ago.
Still, children are encouraged to socialize at lunch and sometimes they don't chew their food well enough, so it's important for school staff to be properly trained, she said.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, choking was responsible for 23 deaths among ages 5 to 14 in 2003, the most recent year for available data.
The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control also estimates there are more than 100 hospital emergencies for every choking-related death.
Manning said both choking incidents she was involved in last week were a reminder of the importance to be prepared.
"I think it's good for everybody to know," she said.
"You can use it anywhere."
Bell said Manning is appreciated for far more than her vigilance and safety skills.
"She has a great rapport with the kids. She's a real fun-loving type of person," she said. "She knows them really well."
In addition to monitoring the lunchroom, Manning helps at recess and in classrooms with reading.
"You've heard the saying it takes a community to raise these kids, and in our school, we have amazing staff members who contribute so much to the overall programs," Bell said.
"She's just a really, really neat person with kids."
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