10-year-old saves friend using Heimlich maneuver

QUICK THINKING— Zane Pope, 10, left, used the Heimlich maneuver to help his friend, Quinton Potter, 10, breathe again during a lunchtime choking incident last month. Zane had seen the first aid technique used on a cartoon show. The two boys, who will attend fifth grade at Walnut Canyon Elementary School next fall, have been friends for several years. In honor of Zane's lifesaving efforts, Mayor Janice Parvin presented the boy with a certificate of recognition. SYLVIE BELMOND Acorn Newspapers Zane Pope doesn't speak much when he's on the spot, but the 10yearold springs into action when it's needed.

The Moorpark boy used the Heimlich maneuver to save a friend who was choking on his lunch at Walnut Canyon Elementary School about a month ago. He was hailed as a young hero at a City Council meeting last week.

"It felt good to save Quinton's life," Zane said shyly.

He and Quinton Potter, also 10, are both advanced baseball players. They've been friends throughout elementary school.

The boys were having lunch with a group of peers on May 22 when Quinton began to choke on a tostada shell.

"My throat felt weird, and I couldn't breathe," Quinton said.

Zane, who was sitting at the other end of the table, noticed that Quinton was holding his throat, couldn't speak and was getting pale.

He asked another student closer to Quinton to hit him on the back to dislodge the food, but when that didn't work, Zane went around the table to hit his friend on the back himself.

Seeing that his friend was still struggling to breathe, Zane decided to place his arms around Quinton's chest and use abdominal thrusts, which enabled the boy to swallow the chunk of food that had been stuck in his throat.

The event didn't make much of an impact on the boys, who couldn't wait to get back to the field to play ball after a brief interview with the Moorpark Acorn. But it did make an impression on their parents and the mayor.

"I'm very relieved, but they don't realize the impact of what happened," said Mike Potter, Quinton's dad, who'd learned about the incident that afternoon.

"Zane was so calm about it, as if it was not a big deal, but it is a big deal," said Mayor Janice Parvin. She presented a certificate of recognition to Zane for his lifesaving effort last week.

"He's such a young child, yet he sprang into action to save his friend," Parvin said.

Quinton appeared "thrilled," at the council meeting, Parvin said. "You could tell Zane's got a friend for life there."

Zane doesn't have any formal lifesaving training, but he recalled seeing the Heimlich maneuver performed in a cartoon show on television.

He had practiced the technique with his dad, Ron, and his brother, Devin, about two years ago, said his mother, Lisa Pope.

"We are very proud of Zane for remaining calm in a frightening situation and doing a simple first aid action that potentially saved his friend's life," she said.

"He did what many grownups might not be ready to do."

Maria Sanchez, director of development and communications for the American Red Cross of Ventura County, said emergency personnel take about 12 minutes on average to arrive on the scene when a medical emergency occurs.

"So for this young man to step forward, he perhaps saved his friend's life," she said.

Sanchez said people who come into the local Red Cross office to renew their CPR certificates every other year share similar stories, demonstrating that everyone should learn basic lifesaving skills.

The local Red Cross offers several CPR classes each year, and their baby-sitting training program educates teenagers on safety procedures, child behaviors, activities for children, leadership skills and more, Sanchez said.

"Most importantly, it educates the participants on how to deal with a child or infant who is choking (and how to administer) rescue breathing, first aid and CPR," she said.

Sanchez said that back blows and abdominal thrust procedures, formerly referred to as the Heimlich maneuver, are taught in all Red Cross CPR classes.