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A school lunch aide at a Commack elementary school rescued a 7-year-old boy who was choking on pizza in the school cafeteria.
Francesca Augello is being credited with saving second grader Grayson Molina’s life at Wood Park Primary School on Friday, NBC New York reported.
“He was just staring at me, so I asked if he was OK. He didn’t respond,” Augello, herself a mother of three children in Commack schools, told NBC New York. “He just opened his mouth, he couldn’t talk, so right then I knew he was choking.”
Grayson said this week that he remembers the terrifying moments of being unable to breathe — until the lunch monitor swooped in to help. Augello, who has worked for six years at the school, followed directions on a cafeteria poster and performed the Heimlich maneuver on Grayson to dislodge the food stuck in the child’s throat.
“After I took a bite of my pizza, I started to choke. I couldn’t breathe, and then Francesca asked me if everything was OK. I couldn’t speak,” Grayson told CBS News New York.
Seeing the boy in distress, Augello pulled the boy from his lunch seat and told him to stand up.
“Then she did the Heimlich maneuver, and the food came out,” Grayson said in the CBS report.
Grayson’s parents were at the school this week to meet with Augello. They expressed heartfelt thanks and relief.
“She saved his life … She did exactly what she would’ve done if it was her children,” Grayson’s mother, Alexa Molina, said in the NBC report. “So our family is eternally grateful.”
Photos: Facebook/Commack schools
