A toddler, the daughter of chareidi parents who were vacationing in a hotel in the north, choked and was saved by the fast actions of an Arab hotel security guard.
According to a report in the Yediot Achronot, the incident took place at the Kibbutz Lavi Hotel in the Lower Galil. The chassidic couple, Eliyahu and Miriam Heller, parents of four, were vacationing in the hotel as part of a group, including their youngest daughter, one-year-old Bracha.
During one of the meals, the baby gasped and began to turn blue. According to the mother, “We were eating soup and I was feeding Bracha, and there were soup nuts in the soup, and there were probably croutons as well. Suddenly she gasped and turned blue, after apparently swallowing soup.
“She lost her breath, and it looked really dangerous … We were all hysterical around her, we immediately went out to the grass to breathe fresh air – and then suddenly the security guard moved [into action].”
Rair Imran, 27, a security guard at the hotel and a resident of the village of Maghar in the Galil, said: “Suddenly I heard screams, I was in the dining room, I saw dozens of frightened, screaming guests holding a little girl who was suffocating and blue.
“When I took her, she was completely blue in the face, and I gave her treatment, [performing the Heimlich maneuver] until she began to cry and breath, and after a short time an MDA team arrived and evacuated her to Poriah Hospital. I feel wonderful because I saved the toddler thanks to a course I was doing in MDA,” said Imran.
After the incident, the hotel manager cited the guard for his actions and he was also given a cash prize to show appreciation for his quick actions, removing a foreign body from the baby’s throat and thereby saving her life.
“He arrived like a malach” said Bracha’s father, who added “As a result of his awareness, and performing the Heimlich maneuver, he saved her life”.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Really nice story. However, the Security guard will probably be killed when he gets back home as a “collaborator” by the peace loving Arabs.
Noone performs the Heimilich maneuver on a 1 year old. At that age the child is inverted and slapped on the back.
B”H! Thank you Rair Imran a Druze Arab, a citizen of E”Y! Such a small country with such love and hatred that touches everyone everyday!
A heartening story. Something less heartening – why didn’t the parents know how to do a “baby-style” Heimlich maneuver? Shouldn’t everyone, especially parents of children, know how to do this? Perhaps challah/chassan classes should include some basic first aid for those we hope will be parents of children. Or is it too much to ask that the yeshivas/batei Yaakov teach such basic life-saving skills?
Dear Midwest:
When someone gets historical & panicking one is bound to loose theirs senses,
So don’t judge,
Most certainly a good idea as you suggest that a Choson Kallah should have these lessons,