Workplace first aider saves his wife from choking
to death on holiday

A workplace first aider has saved his partner's life on holiday
when she started choking in a busy restaurant. By his own
admission, Peter Dixon was a reluctant pupil at a St John Ambulance
Emergency First Aid at Work course in Middlesbrough at the end
of August. But a week later, Peter used these vital skills to save
his wife’s life when she started choking on her dinner.
Life saving skills
Peter said: ‘I didn’t pay too much attention
at first because it was noisy in the restaurant and I thought she
was just coughing. Then it got much worse and people started to
stare. The waiter was concerned and came rushing over. By now Anne
was starting to change colour and was gasping for breath. So I gave
Anne five sharp back blows between her shoulder blades with the
heel of my hand as I’d been taught.
That didn’t seem to make any difference so I
moved on to the next procedure which was to deliver abdominal
thrusts. We’d tried it out in the class so I knew exactly what to
do and it all came back. I stood behind her and put both my hands
around the upper part of her abdomen. I then clenched my fist,
placed it between the navel and the bottom of the breastbone, held
my fist firmly with the other hand and pulled sharply inwards and
upwards. A piece of food that had become stuck in Anne’s
throat came flying out. She took a huge big intake of breath
and the colour came flooding back. What a relief. I thought
she was going to die and I think she did too.’
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