EWES student receives 'Hero Award'

By: 
Kate Wehlann, Staff Writer

EWES Principal Debbie Esarey and Superintendent Dennis Stockdale applaud Addyson Raley after she received the EWES Hero Award for performing the Heimlich Manuever on her best friend in the school lunch room on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

Do you know how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver? Would you remember exactly how to do it if you were faced with an emergency?

East Washington Elementary fourth grader Addyson Raley does, and she used her knowledge to help her friend in trouble in the lunchroom on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

“I learned how to do it when I was really little and I watched videos with my mom [Robin Raley, a special education instructional aide at the school],” said Raley. “My second grade teacher also taught us.” Freda Hadley was the teacher who taught the students the life-saving measure.

One of her best friends, Ava Sparkman, was eating lunch when she began choking.

“She was holding her neck and kind of whispering, ‘Help!’” said Raley. “I panicked a little and thought, ‘What do I do?’ Then I remembered the Heimlich Maneuver and did it on her.”

Sparkman said she was panicked.

“It was scary. I didn’t know what to think at first, but then Addyson came and did the Heimlich and I felt better,” she said, adding the food flew out of her mouth and hit another one of the girls’ friends.

Sparkman said she, too, knows how to do the Heimlich as they both had the same teacher in second grade.

“It means a lot [to have a friend like Raley],” said Sparkman. “It’s good to know your best friend knows how to help you. I like it.”

Raley was presented with the EWES Hero Award Monday morning, “for recognizing an emergency situation … and reacting to save the life of another student.”

“We think they’re famous around here!” said Title I Director Shari Dalton.

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