By Nathan Duke
An aide at Bayside’s PS 31 will be honored by the school’s Parent Teacher Association chapter this week after she saved the life of a 5−year−old boy who was choking on a sandwich, the school’s principal said.
Bessie Dinas, a school aide, performed the Heimlich maneuver on a kindergarten student at the school last week after the boy approached her and told her that he was choking, Principal Terri Graybow said.
“He had food stuck in his throat and no air was passing through,” Graybow said. “He couldn’t breathe. [Dinas] was trained to do the maneuver at the beginning of the year, so it was the luck of the draw that she was there.”
Dinas had been acting as a lunch aide at the time of the incident. She said she responded instantly when she saw that he could not breathe.
“He came up to me and showed me that he was choking,” Dinas said. “Right away, I gave him the Heimlich maneuver three times and finally he was breathing. I was a little shaken afterward, but I’m glad I was there. [Tuesday] morning, he came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘Thank you for saving my life.’ ”
The school’s PTA will give Dinas a plaque Thursday.
The boy’s mother took him to a hospital following the incident last week and he has since returned to school, Graybow said.
The school is located at 211−45 46th Road in Bayside.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e−mail at nduke@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 156.
