You simply never know when you are going to need a hero and heroes tend to come from some of the most unlikely places.
That was shown in a touching way when a Kentucky custodian knew that she had to act quickly in a high-pressure situation. As a result of her quick thinking, a child who was choking was able to live another day.
According to News Channel 5, Heather Collins works as the head custodian at Garth Elementary School and she has been sharing the story of what happened. We cannot begin to imagine how scary of a moment this was for the child. “I could tell immediately he needed my help, so I performed the Heimlich maneuver, and the food just popped out,” Collins said, according to the outlet.
How fortunate for this child that someone was on hand and ready to perform this life-saving maneuver at a moment’s notice! It is definitely enough to make a parent wonder if there are people who know the Heimlich at their child’s school.
According to Collins, it only took 15 to 20 seconds for her to successfully clear out the child’s airway. Principal Jon Salyer was quick to offer his praise to the custodian as well.
“Academics matter, but, my goodness, so does kindness, so does safety,” Salyer says. “We want our kids to come out and be productive citizens and I feel like Heather’s actions encompass all that and sum it up.” These are the types of life-saving efforts that everyone needs to know about and we are so happy that this child is okay.
“It’s something that I’m glad that I know how to do, and it’s very important,” Heather shared with the news station. We agree with her message 100 percent and perhaps schools should start looking into the process of making sure that they have more trained staff members when it comes to these types of pressure situations. You simply never know when this sort of problem is going to arise.
It is certainly food for thought and we hope that our readers enjoyed this tale of heroism as much as we did. Heather was not looking for any sort of praise, though. She is just glad that she was on the scene when the child began to choke and we are more than sure that their parents are as well.