A New Jersey teacher saved the life of a third-grader who was choking on a water bottle cap.
JaNiece Jenkins is a third-grade teacher at the East Orange Community Charter School in East Orange, New Jersey. She has maintained a daily routine with her students for the past five years, and Wednesday seemed like a typical day for the educator, NJ Advanced Media reported.
After the students returned to the classroom from gym class at around 11 a.m., Jenkins was preparing for her math lesson.
Moments later, Jenkins noticed one of her students was choking on a water bottle cap. She quickly sprang into action and performed the abdominal thrust on the boy until the cap was dislodged from his throat.
“I didn’t really think, I just acted,” she told the outlet on Monday. “I saw he needed help and I just sprung into action to help him. He couldn’t breathe, his face was pretty pale and he had a look of desperation on his face.”
Jenkins explained that the student had swallowed the cap after he tried opening the water bottle with his teeth.
The boy asked Jenkins for assistance after realizing he couldn’t move the object from in his throat on his own. Jenkins had years of experience since she obtained her CPR and basic first aid safety certificate after previously working as a preschool teacher.
“He ran to me and couldn’t talk so he was pointing to his throat,” Jenkins said. “Then I just went to deliver the Heimlich maneuver and luckily it popped out and he was OK.”
Jenkins explained how important it was for her to remain calm in what would have been a tragic situation. However, she recalled what could have happened if she wasn’t trained to help the young boy.
“Once he was safe, I got him to the nurse and I felt 100% better,” Jenkins said. “Then my emotions got the best of me in hindsight thinking of what could’ve happened. Thank God, I was able to do what I did. This is the first time I ever did the (Heimlich maneuver) for real. I’m glad it worked.”
The school’s principal, Tracey Watkins, praised Jenkins for her saving the student’s life.
“This situation could have had a tragic outcome,” Watkins said. “As a school community, we are so grateful to and proud of Ms. Jenkins. Instead of freezing and panicking, she recalled what she learned in CPR training and used those skills to save a life.”
According to the American Red Cross/American Heart Association, the Heimlich maneuver was replaced with the term “abdominal thrust” after victims suffered injuries from the procedure.
