Not all heroes wear capes; some stand at chalkboards and teach.
JaNiece Jenkins is a math teacher at East Orange Community Charter School in East Orange, New Jersey. Her training in the Heimlich maneuver recently proved vital after one of her third-graders began to choke on a bottle cap. The classroom’s surveillance camera captured the moment which occurred last Wednesday and the first few seconds of the video are rattling.
In the video, Jenkins' 9-year-old student can be seen seated at his desk, attempting to open a water bottle.
The third-grader twists the lid with his teeth. He tilts his head back and squeezes the bottle, causing water to gush out and thrust the cap into his throat, blocking his airway. The student then runs over to his teacher, pointing to his throat and signaling for help.
Jenkins calmly springs into action.
In an interview NJ Advance Media, Jenkins described her student’s face as he approached her, pale and filled with desperation.
Realizing that the student was pointing to his throat, Jenkins told the New Jersey area outlet that she “just went to deliver the Heimlich maneuver, and luckily it popped out and he was OK.”
The math teacher explained that she learned CPR and the Heimlich maneuver years ago when she was teaching preschool. Jenkins has been a teacher for 14 years and has worked at East Orange Community Charter School for five years. Recently, the teacher (who is also a cheerleading coach at Montclair High School) decided to take a refresher course in first aid.
“Thank God, I was able to do what I did. This is the first time I ever did the (Heimlich maneuver) for real,” she told NJ Advance Media. “I’m glad it worked.”
“Ms. Janiece Jenkins, school teacher, lifesaver, comforter of terrified children,” one person Tweeted about the incident. “Prob squeezed that in between lunch duty and math. This is any ordinary day for her, how about you?”
“To have the wherewithal to jump right into action, save his life, and then calmly start comforting him like her veins weren’t coursing with adrenaline,” another person commented with a post that shared the video of the incident. "Her name is Janiece Jenkins. I want her on the @wheaties box.”
To celebrate Jenkins' actions, East Orange Mayor Ted Green and Congressman Donald Payne Jr. announced they will give her an award and a proclamation.
Another hero teacher:
