Toronto Blue Jays Manager Saved Woman From Choking

From a story on theathletic.com by Kaitlyn McGrath headlined “Blue Jays manager John Schneider saved woman from choking”:

Jessy and John Schneider were starving when they sat down for lunch at Clear Sky Draught Haus, a relaxed restaurant that sits on the corner of the main strip in downtown Dunedin, about a five-minute drive from the team’s player development complex, where they were coming from.

While waiting for their food, Jessy looked up at her husband, who appeared as though he had just seen a ghost. She turned around to look out at the rest of the restaurant and noticed, a few tables away, a woman appeared to be in distress.

“He gracefully gets up, doesn’t panic,” Jessy said of her husband, who walked to the woman’s table and asked the people she was with, “‘Excuse me, can I help her?’”

While the other people at her table appeared unsure how to help, and the rest of the people in their section of the restaurant hadn’t quite reacted yet, Schneider realized the woman, who looked to be in her 50s, was choking. The manager of the Blue Jays hadn’t thought about the Heimlich maneuver since he first learned it in school, but what he remembered he put to good use. After about two thrusts, a piece of shrimp came out of the woman’s mouth, clearing her airway.

It had been an otherwise quiet day at spring training on Sunday when news of Schneider’s life-saving moment that occurred about two weeks ago spread around camp. First reported by Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae, Schneider recounted the incident to reporters during his regular afternoon media availability.

“Right place, right time,” he said. “Either you help or you don’t, and I decided to go over and see if I could help.”

While Schneider sprung into action, his wife sat at their table, ready to dial 9-1-1. But, instead, she watched as her husband dealt with the medical emergency on his own.

“I’m a bigger guy,” said Schneider, who stands at about 6-foot-3. “I think that helped a little bit. But I hadn’t thought about the Heimlich maneuver since sixth grade.”

Jessy said she had no idea her husband even knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver until then. After they left the restaurant, he taught her how to do it, as well.