Boy Chokes To Death At School While Workers Stand By

I had to take a first aid course before I could work with kids.  We had to take a basic one and pass before we could graduate high school.  I voluntarily took a refresher course just so I knew I had practice and was prepared.  I've performed CPR twice in my life.  Once it saved the person, the other time it failed.  But I knew what to do and in the heat of the moment I was calm and confident.  This fall, I choked and if my husband hadn't been there to help me I would have died.  I was trying to do the Heimlich maneuver on myself, and it wasn't enough (that was one stubborn chicken nugget).  I was starting to get dizzy and gray out when it worked.

I know the terror and pain of being unable to breathe.  I have seen the moment firsthand when you realize this may be it, you may die right here and now.  I hurt now realizing a 9-year-old boy's last memories will be of this, while the adults who worked at the school stood around unsure of how to help him.

NEW YORK -- Family members and a witness say a New York City fourth grader choked on meatballs during lunch earlier this month while school cafeteria workers stood by. The boy later died.

A parent at the school, Andrea Perez, told the newspaper she saw the boy choking but cafeteria workers did nothing. She said at one point they yelled at him to put his fingers down his throat.

"He was on the ground and not moving after a while," Perez said through a Spanish-speaking translator. "Nobody was paying attention and they didn't know how to give aid, nobody knew what to do."

Jonathan Jewth later died from the brain damage he suffered. A room full of people, and nobody knew how to perform the Heimlich?  My first job ever was at McDonald's.  My shiny CPR card meant nothing, we were trained in the Heimlich maneuver before we were allowed to work in food service, no exceptions.  Did the school lapse in training, or did the employees just forget in the panic?  Nobody knows yet and the comments are few and far between from those who were there.

Please, if you don't know basic medical aid sign up for a course.  They're often free, and can save lives.  The world is missing an adorable and gifted child because of ignorance.  That is inexcusable.