A veteran Tahoma bus driver’s quick response saved a fourth-grade student who was choking on a piece of candy last week.
Bus driver Connie Schmoll was driving about 35 students to Lake Wilderness Elementary School on the morning of Nov. 1 when she noticed unusual activity in the back of the bus. After using her intercom to ask what was going on, a student shouted to her that another student was getting sick. Schmoll saw the stricken student in her mirror and quickly determined that he was in distress.
“Then, one of the kids said to me, ‘I think he is choking!'” she said. Schmoll immediately stopped the bus on the shoulder of Witte Road and made her way to the student. Using knowledge gained through cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training, Schmoll performed the Heimlich Maneuver on the student to eject the object that was obstructing his airway.
“I said, ‘OK, are you ready for this?’ I did the (Heimlich) procedure once. He stood up and said it (the candy) went down.”
Schmoll made sure the boy was breathing normally and then moved him to the front of the bus before using her radio to contact Lake Wilderness Elementary and request that the school nurse meet the bus when it arrived. The student was checked by the nurse and found to be OK.
It was only later, after returning to the transportation center and learning that the student was alright, that Schmoll experienced the emotion connected to the incident. It was the first time in 13 years of bus driving that she saved a student from choking.
“It was extremely emotional,” she said. “I broke down afterwards and started crying.”
Operations Supervisor Tom Misfeldt praised Schmoll for her quick thinking and calm, effective way of coming to the student’s aid. He said in his 15 years of school transportation experience, he has never known anyone who used the Heimlich Maneuver to help a student.
The Tahoma School Board will honor Schmoll at its Nov. 28 board meeting.
