Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Samantha Hayes reportingSheriff's deputies are known for fighting crime. Now, two Salt Lake County residents credit them for saving their lives.
The deputies recently completed a first aid refresher course and were tested on their knowledge shortly after.
We've all probably choked on something at some point and experienced that helpless feeling before catching the next breath.
Sometimes only the Heimlich maneuver will help. That was the case when a deputy saved the life of an elderly woman.
Frances Dibble's 83rd birthday celebration will be remembered for much more than cakes and candles.
Frances Dibble: "We had been to lunch with my daughters for my birthday and I just got to choking in the car."
When Frances started choking, her husband and daughter pulled off to the side of Cottonwood Lane to try and help her. Fortunately, there was a deputy in the area at the time running radar, who happened to see the vehicle.
Deputy Russ Young/ Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department: "I looked over there and there was a young lady holding an elderly lady, trying to hold her up."
Frances: "So she screamed for them. She tried to do the Heimlich maneuver and it didn't work."
Deputy Young: "So I ran over there. She said, 'She's choking' and her lips started to turn blue."
Frances: "He had done it three or four times, then a big push and that seemed to break it loose."
Deputy Young: "You want to push in and up so you get a good thrust on the lungs to get any air that's there out of the wind pipe."
Sheriff's deputies go through a first aid and CPR course every other year. Young says even at just a moment's notice, he had no trouble remembering what to do.
Deputy Young: "[That was the] first time I really got to try it."
Frances: "I'm so grateful to him for being there and knowing what to do."
Deputy Russ Young is her hero.
Deputy Young: "It's nice to be called a hero rather than some things I've been called."
Looking back on the incident, Francis Dibble sums it all up: "I didn't want to die on my birthday!"
Another incident happened just last week when a Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputy saved a man choking on his breakfast at a local restaurant.
