MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

Two Coffee County Raider Academy teachers were recognized at the Feb. 4 Coffee County School Board meeting for their heroic actions saving a student from choking in the school cafeteria.

World History teacher Roger Barlow and Health teacher Caroline Crabtree stepped in to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on a distressed student during the semester exam week.

“It’s just amazing to be able to stand up here and to say that two of our teachers without hesitation saved the life of one of our students, so we would like to take a moment to recognize them,” remarked Tonya Gardner on behalf of Coffee County Schools.

Gardner also read a letter from the American Heart Association for not only saving a life but helping to “improve the survival rate of citizens who receive bystander CPR or Heimlich.”

Barlow explained in an email that he was supervising in the cafeteria at the time of the incident.

“I had the first half of lunch and was just about to leave and Mrs. Crabtree had relieved me,” he recalled. “I was in the serving line when I heard Mrs. Crabtree say “Barlow” and it sounded urgent, so I stepped back in the eating area from the serving line and saw her doing the Heimlich maneuver.”

 Barlow says that he took over performing the Heimlich from Crabtree and continued the maneuver until he knew the student was no longer in danger.

“Obviously, I could not hear the student speak so I kept going until she and Mrs. Kroese tapped me on the arm and said I think she is ok,” he said. “She was probably ok a few thrusts before, but I couldn’t hear her, and I wasn’t going to stop until I was told to stop.”

Proper training, according to Barlow, is what led him to step in to try and save the student.

“I knew what to do, was trained to do it, and I really didn’t want to see a young person pass away because of a piece of pizza,” he explained. “This is not the first time I have had to do this, so I knew I had to stay calm and keep going until everything came out right.”

Though Barlow and Crabtree were the ones to step in to help in this instance, Barlow says he feels any of his fellow staff members would have done the same. It was just a case of being in the right place at the right time.

“I feel like any of our staff at CCRA would do exactly the same thing, I was just blessed by God Almighty to be in the right place at the right time,” he says. “The good Lord put me in that time and place just for that, and for that I give him thanks.”