Dean of Students helps student who was choking
Dean of Students Allison Teachout recently performed first aid on Williams, who was choking on a cookie during lunch.
“My friend was going to get a napkin, I put a cookie in my mouth, and I was standing up,” Williams said. “Next thing, I felt a hard lump in my throat, and then I couldn't breathe. I started coughing really badly, and my friends asked if I was OK or if I was joking, but I couldn't breathe.”
Teachout, who was monitoring lunch, quickly realized something was happening.
“I looked up and watched the group of students, and I wasn't sure if she was just moving around. But then I saw her hands were on her neck. I came over, and I heard somebody say choking, so I encouraged her to cough, because when someone is coughing, the one thing you know is that they can get air.
“But then, all of a sudden, the sound kind of stopped. That was when I took necessary action, I gave her five back blows, I gave her a couple of abdominal thrusts (also known as the Heimlich maneuver), and that was when the cookie came out.”
“Ms. Teachout came over and started patting my back,” Williams said. “Then I kept coughing, and she pressed up on my stomach and kept patting my back until it came out. I was pretty shocked, and I was nervous.”
Teachout asked Williams’ friends to get the school nurse, Leah Squires, who helped an understandably emotional Williams.
“When you get excited, you get nervous,” Teachout said, “I got her to calm down a little bit, and then Mrs. Squires came and helped her. When I knew she was OK, I knew that, OK, we’ve got this taken care of.”
Before becoming the junior high school’s Dean of Students this school year, Teachout was a physical education teacher and also coaches Auburn’s varsity field hockey team. Her experience in the fields of health and physical education was valuable in this situation.
“I know I have the ability, for whatever reason, to remain fairly calm,” she said. “I don't get really too excited about that kind of stuff, so if somebody gets hurt or whatever, I just have that ability. My brain must just separate and go, OK, here's what we have to do. We have to be able to take action and help the situation.”
“I was extremely proud when I heard about Allison’s quick action in the lunchroom and that Seniyah was safe,” said Auburn Junior High School Principal David Oliver. “Her presence of mind and care for students truly represent the heart of our school community.”
Looking back, Teachout knows choking can happen at any time and how important it is to know how to respond.
“I think this situation really made me realize how important first aid training really is,” Teachout said, “and the significance of understanding how to be able to help someone who is choking, because it does happen regularly. It happened to my daughter when she was young, so I understand that.”
Williams also understands and said she plans to learn first-aid methods for choking.
“I feel like it would be a good experience since I've been through it,” Williams said. “I feel like it would be better if I knew what to do; if it ever happens again, or to someone else, who doesn't know what to do.
“Like Seniyah said, it's important because now she wants to be able to know how to do that if she may have to help someone,” Teachout said. “It is a great skill and really important.”
Christopher Sciria / AECSD Public Information Specialist
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