Alert Long Island school monitor saves second grader with the Heimlich maneuver
COMMACK, N.Y. - An 8-year-old child choking on pizza was spotted by an alert cafeteria school monitor.
He wasn't breathing. She raced to the second grader, lifted him out of his seat, performed the Heimlich maneuver, just in time to save his life.
There's celebration in Commack inside Wood Park Primary School, including hugs for a school monitor from a second grader, and tears from his mother and father.
"I'm so glad I got to see her today. She saved our son's life. You don't want to think about 'what ifs,'" mother Alexis Molina said.
It was pizza day. As the children gathered in the cafeteria, school monitor Francesca Augello spotted 8-year-old Grayson Molina, and noticed something was wrong.
"So I ran over to him. Grayson, is everything OK? Can you talk," Augello said.
"After I took a bite of my pizza, I started to choke. I couldn't breathe, and then Francesca asked me if everything was OK. I couldn't speak," 8-year-old Grayson Molina said.
"I pulled him out from the seat and said you have to stand up, and I just started doing the heimlich," Augello said.
When thoracic surgeon Dr. Henry Heimlich died nearly a decade ago, his technique was credited with saving 100,000 lives. It continues to do so.
"Then she did the Heimlich maneuver, and the food came out," Grayson Molina said.
Grayson was checked by the school nurses. The principal and superintendent called his parents, who shared their relief.
"The whole community, everyone's been calling us and texting us, asking about Grayson and how are we doing. Makes you feel good that you live in a district, the Commack district," father Paul Molina said.
"As a mom I'm just so grateful for her. She saved our son," Alexis Molina said.
Augello has 3 children in the district, and has been a school monitor at Wood Park for six years. It was the first time she ever attempted the Heimlich maneuver.
"It was a scary situation. I was very nervous but I had to help him, and my instincts just kicked in," Augello said.
"You need everyone looking after them, because anything could happen anytime," Paul Molina said.
"Thank you is not enough," Alexis Molina said.
It takes a village, the Mollinas said, to raise a child.
