A dramatic lifesaving took place May 9 at Auburn Career Center, a vocational school for high school students in Concord Township, Ohio, that provides training for plastics manufacturing.
Auburn employee Mary Feathers was on break in the school's cafeteria when she began choking and was unable to breathe, according to a post on the Facebook page of the Lake County Sheriff's Department. Deputy Mike Reed, an officer assigned to the school, saw that Feathers was in distress and used the Heimlich Maneuver to clear her airway to enable her to breathe again.
"If it wasn't for Deputy Reed, I would not be here telling this to you this morning," Feathers said on the post. "I thought I was not going to make it. Deputy Reed saved my life and I want everyone to know about it."
Reed also went with Feathers to the emergency room of a local hospital, where she was checked out and cleared.
Auburn is located about 30 miles east of Cleveland. The school has around 30 students in manufacturing programs, including some that go on to work at plastics businesses in the area. Those firms include Mar-Bal Inc. of Chagrin Falls and Mercury Plastics of Middlefield, both of which offer internships to Auburn students.