Georgia Head Start Director Saves Choking 2-Year-Old With the Heimlich Maneuver in Viral Surveillance Video
On November 12, a Head Start center in Waynesboro, a city in Burke County, Georgia, held its annual fall family meal, drawing more than 140 families to eat with their children and take part in classroom activities. As families were leaving, 2-year-old Jo Freeman put a piece of candy in his mouth and it lodged in his throat. Surveillance video from the center showed the child in obvious distress in the hallway as a guardian nearby tried to help. The center's director, Yolanda Willis, was about 20 feet away; she looked over, saw the child's face had turned blue, and rushed in to perform the Heimlich maneuver, delivering several abdominal thrusts until the candy came loose and the boy could breathe again. The surveillance video has since spread widely on social media.
"When I looked, the child was blue in the face, and I just took action from there, from everything I've been trained to do," Willis told WRDW. "You never know when you'll be able to use it, and yesterday was the day." The boy's mother, Felicia Freeman, said she stepped into the hallway as the commotion started. "My baby was choking on a piece of candy that he had put in his mouth, and it lodged in his throat," she said. "When I stepped out into the hallway, I realized that he was choking. Miss Willis immediately started doing the maneuver on him and got it out." Freeman said she was terrified but tried to stay calm: "I know it was best that I did not panic at a moment like that, or he could have died if I panicked." She added: "She's an angel to us. I thank God she had that training, because if she had not been there, I just don't know."
Willis said that in more than 25 years in education and child care, she had previously performed CPR on a child and the Heimlich maneuver once before. She also said she had recently had surgery and was supposed to be under lifting restrictions. "But all of that was out the door, and adrenaline rushed in, and it was go time," she said. According to WRDW, Jo was able to continue his day after the scare and is doing better.
The center's team said they hope the attention around the viral video will inspire more parents and caregivers to get trained in CPR and first aid. "A parent with toddlers, it is No. 1 priority," Willis said. "That's our goal, that we would bring awareness to this and that we could get our parents trained in these types of life-saving measures." Freeman said she was thankful for everyone who was involved and how they reacted: "No one panicked. He's doing better, and I just thank God she was there."
Source: WRDW
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 资料图：事发地佐治亚州伯克县县治Waynesboro的伯克县法院（Upstateherd摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0），非事发中心画面。/ File photo: Burke County Courthouse in Waynesboro, Georgia, the county seat of Burke County (by Upstateherd, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); not a photo of the center.
