This is an instance where truly everyone worked together to do the right thing. When a middle school boy started choking during lunch, the school officer, the school nurse, and his good friend each did what they could to help the boy out. And thanks to them, this young man survived.
When he started choking, his friend immediately knew to get help.
In Bartow County, Georgia, it was just another normal day at school. Until lunchtime when Ethan Hamrick started choking on a water bottle cap that was lodged in his airway.
His friend, named Rudra Parmar was the first person to see the emergency unfold. They had been eating lunch together, and in the middle of a laugh, Ethan started choking. As soon as this started to happen, Parmar got help from a teacher and Officer Duane Smith.
The officer performed 14 thrusts of the Heimlich Maneuver.
The water bottle was lodged deep in Ethan’s throat. Officer Smith was shaken and scared, but immediately leapt into action to help save the boy. Ethan was starting to turn blue and the situation was dire. Although the officer was much bigger than Ethan, he performed the Heimlich Maneuver as many times as was necessary.
These thrusts did not get the cap out of his throat, but they did help to move the cap around. After the officer’s actions, the cap was still in there, but the trusts had created a breathing passage so that the boy could get some air.
The officer wasn’t even supposed to be there that day.
In a truly special twist of events, the officer decided to show up to the middle school earlier than he was supposed to. Earlier that day, he was helping to patrol the high school and was supposed to stay there longer, but he felt his intuition telling him to return to the middle school.
It’s lucky that he listened to his heart, because he ended up saving a young boy’s life.
The school nurse was also there to offer her expertise.
Annette Lively is the head nurse at that school. She was also able to help out with Ethan and performed her own first aid actions while they waited for the ambulance to arrive.
Eventually, the bottle cap was completely dislodged and came out of his throat. Ethan went to the hospital to get treated and was released.
In this high-intensity moment, his best friend turned to prayer.
This was a scary time for everyone, Rudra Parmar included. After he did his part by alerting the necessary adults and seeking help for his friend, he tried to appeal to a higher power to get even more help. He says this of his decision to start to pray for his friend:
“I was really hoping that he’d be alive by the end of this, so I just prayed. Because I don’t want to lose a friend…I’ve prayed for my mother and my father, might as well pray for a friend.”
Now, Ethan is healthy and well.
Posted by Bartow County Schools onWednesday, December 4, 2019
The boy was treated for his injury and changed his water bottle to one with a different type of cap. And Rudra says that when Ethan returned to school, everyone cheered.
Talk about being in the right place, at the right time. Learn more about this teamwork that saved a life, by watching the video below!
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