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PARK CITY — Becky Broadhead helps students at Ecker Hill Middle School all day long, but she wasn't expecting the request that came into her office last week.
"A frantic mom came in and said, 'this kid needs help!'" Broadhead said recalling the incident.
The student wasn't breathing and Broadhead knew she had to act fast.
"I said, 'Are you choking?' and he nodded and so I stepped over and did the Heimlich (maneuver)," she said.
School surveillance video showed Broadhead calmly wrapping her arms around the student and making three thrusts before the wadded up fruit roll up dislodged.
By the time the assistant principal and school nurse came running in, the boy was breathing again.
"The student was relieved and I think Becky was in shock," said colleague Nora Buchanan. "It happened so fast."
"It didn't scare me until after and I thought, what if I wouldn't have gotten him breathing again?" said Broadhead.
Broadhead learned the Heimlich and other life-saving skills as a teenaged lifeguard. She resolved to keep certified so she could help if the occasion ever arose. Broadhead said she never expected it actually would.
"I always figured I don't want to be someone who, when someone needs help, I can't help," she said.
The boy was grateful and privately thanked Broadhead. A few days after the incident, he brought her a card simply stating, "Thank you for saving my life."
"I know he's embarrassed," Broadhead said. "I get it. This (the card) means the world to me."
Broadhead is back to work in the fast-paced Park City school. But as word gets out, students and faculty are giving her high fives in the hall and calling her "hero. She's just grateful she was at her desk and knew what to do.
"I know that parents trust us when they send their kids to school, and so I always want to help," Broadhead said.
