Girl Gives Boy Heimlich Manuever, He Thanks Her with Candy

Elise Solé
KSDK

A 9-year-old girl is being hailed a hero after giving a classmate the Heimlich maneuver when he began choking in the cafeteria.

On Monday, Emily Ogle, a 4th grader at Central Elementary School in Roxana, Illinois, noticed that her classmate Kuper Stevens was choking on a breadstick during lunch. He couldn't breathe and was turning red, but luckily, Emily knew what to do thanks to her father, who had taught her how to administer the Heimlich maneuver when she was only 7 years old. "I did the Heimlich maneuver and I guess I got it out, but I didn't think so. So I ran and got the monitor, but I guess I already got it out," Emily told local news affiliate KSDK.

To thank his hero, Kuper has already bought Emily a gold-plated necklace that spells out her name and four bars of king-sized chocolate, wrapped with a string and a bow.

"Many kids are in high school when they first learn to administer abdominal thrusts, but if a younger child is strong enough, that's wonderful," Les Bronte, training coordinator at Beverly Hills CPR center, tells Yahoo Shine. For children who want to take CPR classes, Bronte says an instructor should evaluate their size and strength to gauge whether they're good candidates.

"If a kid sees someone choking, they should first make sure that the environment is safe to offer help," he says. "The floor shouldn't be slippery and there should be no electrical wires lying around, in case people fall." Then, follow these steps:

Ask the person if they're choking: "If they say yes, they're not choking because they're able to answer," says Bronte. "If they nod, that means they don't have enough oxygen to answer." Then, let the victim know you're about to assist them. "They should understand what's about to happen so they don't panic and fight the person who is trying to help," he says.

Stand behind the victim: If you're the taller of the two, get on your knees so you're the same height. If you're shorter, place one leg in between theirs so you have stability in case they fall.

Wrap your arms around the person: Place your fist (thumb side in) above his or her belly button and below the rib cage, then grab your fist tightly with your free hand. Then pull hard and up simultaneously, pushing against the diaphragm and lower part of the lung, which forces air to come up through the air pipe.

If an adult trained in the maneuver intervenes, the child should strep back. "Ideally the process should take one or two minutes," says Bronte. "But if the person is still shaky after they've stopped choking, call 911."