A Palm Beach Gardens teacher was honored Thursday after she saved the life of one of her students.
Khamisi Guadalupe received the Citizen’s Life Saving Award from the Palm Beach Gardens Fire Department and mayor for her saving a student who began choking during one of her lectures.
According to the report, the incident occurred back in January.
Guadalupe says she was teaching when a male student started choking on a piece of gum and suddenly stopped moving.
Guadalupe immediately sprung into action and started the Heimlich maneuver:
“And once he went that way, I just ran over. And while he was still sitting, I pull him out of the chair,” Guadalupe said. “No movement. As I’m doing abdominal thrust, you can hear a pin drop in the room. Not a single movement.”
Officials say Guadalupe performed the maneuver three to four times before the student slowly started breathing on his own.
Guadalupe said she credits the school district’s mandatory CPR training and that helping a student in distress is part of the job:
“What teacher wouldn’t do that?” Guadalupe said. “I feel like it’s a very teacherly thing to do. There’s not a teacher I know that would not jump into action, so I just feel like it’s part of the job.”