An employee at the Deupree House in Cincinnati, where Heimlich lives told the AP news agency that the retired chest surgeon was in the room when an 87-year-old woman began choking.
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Retiree to the rescue: Dr Henry Heimlich, 96, leapt to the aid of a fellow senior home resident this week, using the maneuver he invented to stop her from choking, USA media report.
Dr Henry Heimlich, the 96-year-old Cincinnati surgeon credited with inventing the life-saving technique named after him, used it for the first time last week to save a fellow senior centre resident who was choking on a hamburger, a centre spokesman said.
Since the technique was introduced in 1974, it is believed to have saved the lives of more than 100,000 people in the United States alone.
Dr Heimlich said he stood up and moved behind Ms Ris’ chair, turning her slightly so her back was facing him across the armrest.
“She had all the signs of it because, as I say, her lips were puffed out, and she obviously wasn’t breathing”, Heimlich said. In a video interview provided to The Enquirer, choking victim Patty Ris said she wrote a note to Heimlich that said, “God put me in this seat next to you”. When he heard a resident was choking, he rushed into the dining hall, only to see Dr. Heimlich already at work.
Dr Heimlich often meets people who were saved by the technique or who saved someone else, his son said.
But the woman who survived the incident said she’s thankful the 96-year-old Cincinnati resident sprung into action on her behalf. “Of all things, I knew she was choking”. “I kinda felt wonderful about it, saving that girl”.
Heimlich now lives at the Deupree House senior living facility.
Heimlich invented his namesake maneuver back in the 1970s and has demonstrated it countless times.
“As soon as I did the Heimlich manoeuvre, a piece of meat with a bone in it immediately popped out”, he said.
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“Everyone was looking. It was totally quiet in the dining room at that time”.
