Grade 6 student saves choking classmate
A lesson learned at school saved a life Thursday.
“This could have ended really badly,” said Mary Elizabeth Rousseau, a Grade 6 teacher at École Ste-Thérèse.
Her student, Tony Elsoury, was choking on his pasta during lunch hour.
“So I get up to ask the teacher if I can use the bathroom, and before I even found the teacher, I found I couldn't breathe,” said Elsoury.
After a few futile attempts to swallow, panic started to set in.
“I ran into the class because I remembered that our teacher taught us first aid, so we should know this,” he explained.
Elsoury turned around and gestured to the seven others in the classroom at the time.
“We didn't know if he was really choking or just joking around but we realized he was choking when his face started turning red and there was spit coming down his mouth,” said classmate Zane Bassam, who jumped into action.
“My friend (Zane) told me to go run and get a teacher, so immediately went to go run and get a teacher,” said classmate Dominic Vitale.
Bassam took it upon himself to help his friend by performing first aid.
“I kind of panicked, but I just rushed straight ahead because I didn't want it to get any worse, so first I started by doing five back blows,” Bassam explained.
When that didn’t work, he turned to the Heimlich Maneuver.
“It was successful and then he started throwing up,” said Bassam.
Elsoury was fine and went home for the rest of the day, thankful his teacher Mme. Rousseau taught the class first aid.
“I feel like if she didn't teach us, this I could have been a lot worse,” Elsoury said.
When she arrived, relief and pride overwhelmed Mme. Rousseau, “Incredibly happy Tony was okay, but also incredibly proud of my students for jumping into action, for putting into place the training they had learned.”
Mme. Rousseau is certified through the Red Cross babysitting program and taught her Grade 6s, “So that they can be confident and competent with basic first aid and know what to do in a situation like this.”
Olivia Drouillard, an instructor at Second Chance CPR, advises calling 911 and making some noise if you find yourself alone in a choking situation. Unlock your door or go outside where others may be able to help.
She said some other things could help as well, “You're either going to fall on the top of a table, on a chair, or use an inanimate object like a water bottle and perform self-performed j-thrusts.”
For his heroic gesture, Bassam has been nominated for a Red Cross Rescuers Award.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
No sign Canada has a plan to reach NATO defence spending target: U.S. NATO ambassador
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says she has seen no indication that Canada has a plan to reach the NATO spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Fire at a baby care centre kills 7 infants in India's capital, a fire officer says
A fire broke out in a baby care center in India's capital Saturday night, killing seven infants, a fire service officer said.
More seniors are using homeless shelters. Here's why, according to experts
One of the country’s homeless shelters has seen an uptick in the number of people through its doors, including more older adults over 50.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Man or machine? Toronto company finds a way to determine how real audio clips are
The Toronto-based research arm of life sciences technology firm Klick Health has found a way to analyze voices in a manner that’s so granular, it can tell whether it's a person or an artificial intelligence-powered machine.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.