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By Russell Lissau
Chicago Daily Herald LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. — Two Lincolnshire police officers are being praised for saving the life of a choking restaurant patron. It was the second such lifesaving effort for one of the officers in less than a year.
Expert Perspective
Congratulations to the well trained, fast thinking officers who saved this woman’s life. Keeping this incident in mind, here are three quick things to think about relative to medical emergencies:
1. Are you ready? Make sure that at the very least, you’re trained on basic first aid. More advanced is even better. Quite often, police are the first on the scene in a medical emergency, so be sure you’re ready to provide preliminary care while waiting for EMS to arrive. This is particularly important if you’re in a rural area and EMS response may be delayed. The aid you’re prepared to render can make a life-or-death difference.
2. Is your kit ready? Consider consulting with a local nurse or physician about what you should carry in your first aid/trauma kit.
3. Are you specifically trained for your region? Be sure to take regional anomalies into consideration when you’re training for first aid response so you’re prepared for medical emergencies that you might see more often than others from different areas.
Read more: Medical emergencies: 3 things to think about
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Officers Brian Balinski and Scott Holst received plaques from Mayor Brett Blomberg and the village board Monday for their actions Dec. 27 at Wildfire Restaurant. They’ll also receive special pins and gifts from the village. Balinski and Holst were the first officers at the restaurant after a 911 call was made about a choking woman. They found the patron unconscious on the floor and not breathing, police said. With the restaurant manager’s help, they lifted the woman and Holst performed the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge a piece of steak that was blocking her throat, police said. "All the (police) officers are trained as first responders and trained in basic life support," Police Chief Randall Melvin said in an e-mail Tuesday. "Since we are usually in the area, we typically beat the fire department (to emergencies), so it’s vital they know the basics of life support." The woman was able to breathe on her own afterward. If the officers had not acted so quickly, she would have fallen into respiratory and cardiac arrest within minutes, authorities said. "The village takes great pride in providing the best service possible to the public, and our training of personnel is extensive," Melvin said. "Incidents such as these pay for themselves when it comes to the cost of the training, which is minimal compared to someone’s life." Balinski has been with the department for six years and Holst for nearly eight, Melvin said. Neither could be reached for comment Tuesday. Balinski was similarly lauded in September 2009 after he and officer Christopher Covelli performed the Heimlich maneuver to save the life of an elderly woman who was choking in her condominium, Melvin said. In that case, pieces of apple were the culprit, Covelli recalled. Covelli called his lifesaving experience "pretty exciting." "It’s truly a tremendous, heartwarming feeling," he said. Holst is no stranger to lifesaving, either. A four-year veteran of the police force, he was one of the officers who rescued a girl from the Des Plaines River in 2007, Melvin said. Copyright 2010 Paddock Publications, Inc.
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