A teen in North Carolina is being hailed a hero after his quick actions helped save an elderly woman at a fast food restaurant.
Anson Everette was in a drive-thru line at the Hardee's on Main Street in Lillington on Tuesday (February 15) when an employee rushed to the window to say that a patron inside was choking and nobody knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver, now called abdominal thrusts, per WRAL. The junior at Harnett Central High School jumped into action, using the skills he learned at school's fire tech program to help save the 80-year-old woman.
"I was worried that I could have possibly hurt the lady or had somehow, in a way, affected her but in that time it was like, just forget it," said Everette, who wants to be a firefighter. "You got to do it or this lady — you're going to see somebody die today."
He was able to perform the maneuver until EMS arrived and helped to get her breathing again. Everette's fire tech instructor said the teen's actions prove that the program is useful in real life situations like this.
"If this program was not in schools, he may have never got that situation to help that lady out," said Johnathan Denton.
According to the news outlet, the elderly woman was taken to the hospital but is expected be OK.