Red Cross Chat

– This post originally appeared on Live Lightly, Laugh Often, and is authored by Susan Henschen.

About 6 years ago, Josef and I had an experience that has stayed with us and probably always will.

We took a course in CPR together at Boston’s Red Cross headquarters. Our instructor was a really neat guy called Alejandro,

“But please call me Alex!”

Alex led us through the various exercises we needed to master in order to pass our exam. Without fail, every example seemed to involve choking, and Alex really seemed to enjoy the moment where he would explain the object on which the “victim” was “choking.”

“You have come upon the victim, who is on the floor in the restaurant. He is turning blue and is making this sign.”

Here, Alex gives the universal choking sign.

“He was eating,”

Alex pauses somewhat dramatically to figure out what food item to name.

“A burrito.”

Then he’d lead us through the exercise.

Time and time again, he set up the exercise, eventually getting to the same part:

“She was eating,” (pause for thought) “a burrito.”

Josef and I, loopy from having been in class for upwards of three hours at this point - and this was day one! - could hardly contain ourselves. It became a new joke for us to say that one liner brought to us by Alex.

Fast forward 5 years. I am working at a school (where I still work today). My colleague comes into work and tells an amazing story about her son, a senior that year, saving someone’s life at a local Mexican restaurant. Turns out the guy whose life he saved had been choking. The victim, I kid you not, was eating…

A burrito.

Suffice to say choking is not funny and it’s wonderful that my colleague’s son was able to save his life, but a burrito? Those things are clearly dangerous!

– Take a CPR and First Aid course so you can be prepared to live through your burrito experience. Sign up!