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An employee at a Long Island elementary school is being hailed a hero after saving a student from choking.
The frightening incident happened Friday, March 8, in Commack, at Wood Park Primary School on New Highway.
Commack School District officials said school monitor Francesca Augello was making her usual rounds in the cafeteria when she spotted a second-grade boy choking on a piece of pizza.
Without missing a beat, Augello performed the Heimlich maneuver on the 8-year-old and was able to clear his airway.
The six-year employee credited her know-how to informational posters about the Heimlich maneuver that she’d seen over the years.
“I’m just happy everything worked out,” the district quoted the mother of three as saying. “You just have to pay attention and be aware what’s going on in the cafeteria.”
Augello’s heroic actions earned her a special visit from district Superintendent Jordan Cox, who stopped by Wood Park Primary School on Monday, March 11, to personally thank her.
Photos posted on the district’s Facebook page show Augello demonstrating the life-saving measure, followed by the two embracing in a hug.
“It’s amazing,” Cox told her. “It’s scary stuff.”
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