QUILCENE — Two elementary school students at Quilcene Elementary School who used an improvised Heimlich maneuver to save the life of a classmate were honored at a school assembly.
Quilcene Fire and Rescue Chief Mo Moser late last week awarded plaques to Quilcene Elementary School students Richard Lont, third grade, and Nathan Soderberg, second grade, for “outstanding life-saving action” in the rescue of third-grader Josh Frantz after he choked on food.
“To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened before,” Moser said.
A third plaque will be displayed in the school. All three students will receive movie passes.
On May 4, Frantz and Soderberg were joking around when Frantz started choking,
“He was laughing so hard that he started choking,” Soderberg said.
“So I called [third grader] Richard [Lont] over to do the Heimlich because I wasn’t big enough.”
The maneuver dislodged a piece of hamburger that had become stuck in Frantz’ windpipe, Principal Jim Betteley said then.
The boys did not contact the teachers, who were unaware of the incident until it was over.
Quilcene Fire Department paramedics examined Lantz to make sure he was OK, and he also visited a doctor that afternoon.
Lont said that he learned the Heimlich maneuver from watching TV.
“You should always listen to what’s on TV,” Frantz said.
Betteley said he would ask the paramedics to provide special instruction about the maneuver to students during the school’s regular safety training.
Afterward, Lont downplayed the incident, but Frantz told his schoolmates that Lont had saved his life.
The boys were always good friends.
“We knew each other in preschool,” Lont said.
“He moved away, and now he moved back.”
Betteley had said that all at the school were proud of both Nathan and Richard for knowing what to do and taking immediate action.
“It’s especially powerful when something like this happens,” Betteley said then.
Frantz has a simpler explanation.
“May 4 will always be my lucky day,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.
bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
