A ceramics teacher in Honolulu, Hawaii, knew exactly what to do when a fellow citizen desperately needed help on Tuesday.
While Ryan Roberts, who teaches at the Iolani School, was in traffic with his sons that evening he saw a car in the middle of the road but knew something was not right, KITV reported Wednesday.
“As we passed her, the side mirror I was watching her, I was like, ‘the lady is hurt,'” he recalled.
When the woman began choking on a cough drop, her daughter pulled the car over to try and avoid traffic. Meanwhile, Roberts realized it was up to him to take action.
He rushed over to the car, put his arms around her, and began performing the Heimlich maneuver to try and save her life.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the maneuver is described as a first aid method for when a person is choking:
The Heimlich maneuver is known as abdominal thrusts, because it involves thrusting into the abdominal area. It’s a quick life-saving method, but it should only be used on conscious people who can’t breathe on their own.
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Dr. Henry Heimlich invented the Heimlich maneuver in 1974. Dr. Heimlich discovered the remaining air in a person’s lungs could be used to free (dislodge) a foreign object from their esophagus using quick, upward thrusts under their ribcage.
The scene that unfolded at the intersection of Waokanaka Street and Pali Highway is where Roberts pulled the 100-year-old lady back from the brink of death in the nick of time.
Several other people rushed over to help but it did not take long for emergency crews to arrive and take over the situation.
What makes his actions even more incredible is the fact Roberts went to training for CPR and first aid two weeks prior to the incident.
Now, he hopes the woman is recovering well after the frightening ordeal. “It was really cool for my boys to see that, it was neat. It was cool — proud dad moment. I think I just saved that lady,” he said.
Social media users were quick to praise the teacher, one person writing, “Amazing! True Hero!” while another said, “Well done sir, thank you.”
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