By Elliott Nace | Staff Writer
A Baylor faculty member continued choking at East Village Dining Hall on Oct. 4 after the Heimlich maneuver proved to be ineffective. His life was saved, however, by the dining hall staff’s administration of LifeVac, a choking rescue device that has been installed across Baylor’s eateries.
According to Dr. Karen Humphrey, senior director of environmental health and safety, the specific training of dining hall staff to use LifeVac ahead of the Fall 2024 semester anticipated a severe choking incident such as this. LifeVac, which has saved over 3,000 lives, prompted the American Red Cross to create procedures regarding choking rescue devices.
“Three Chartwells employees saw [the faculty member’s] distress and immediately went into action,” she said via email. “The Heimlich maneuver was initiated while the LifeVac device was being retrieved. Upon returning to the scene with the LifeVac, it was clear that the basic Heimlich maneuver had not been successful. At this point, the LifeVac was used successfully.”
Humphrey said that these staff members were commended for their action in a private ceremony held at East Village on Nov. 21.
The incentive to stock campus with LifeVac devices began after Brent Jones, campus safety manager, became aware of the product.
“I almost choked to death at a restaurant, and I was very fortunate that the folks there were able to save me,” Jones said. “And from that point I began looking at the different options that were available out there for the university to use as well as my own use. So I bought my family the LifeVac so that we would have that extra edge … and the EHS director at the time, I brought it to him and said, ‘We really need to look at this because if we save one life, it’s well worth the investment.’”
Humphrey explained that the Heimlich maneuver has shortcomings which can render it unreliable in certain choking incidents.
“With the Heimlich maneuver, you’ve got to make sure that you get the positioning right,” she said. “You’ve got to make sure that you have enough strength to be able to do the thrust enough where [someone] can, on their own, be able to get [food] out. Well, what if they don’t have enough air in their lungs at the time? What if the person can’t get a good reach-around?”
Jones also mentioned how different body types and sizes can make a successful performance of the Heimlich maneuver more difficult.
“None of [the people in the restaurant] were big enough to do the Heimlich on me,” Jones said.
LifeVac’s value, according to Humphrey, is its ease of use and its effectiveness in a wider range of choking situations.
“Basically, you just put it on the mouth, suction it down and then pop it out,” she said. “It creates its own suction here, and is not dependent on the strength of the person, on their ability to reach around on anything … So it’s a much simpler device and much more effective.”
Humphrey added that Baylor is the first college campus to save someone’s life with LifeVac.
“Hopefully as word of that gets out, then more college campuses will be looking at us and saying, ‘Hey, this is a great device to have,’ and hopefully it’ll get even wider use.”
