Anna Reid, a 15-year-old babysitter from Westfield, NJ wasn’t expecting to be a hero. It just happened. Anna was serving up French bread pizza to Matthew and Leia on a recent babysitting job when the unimaginable happened: Leia started choking.
The 4-year-old’s face turned bright red. Leia tried to cough and speak but couldn’t.
Anna acted quickly, giving Leia five back blows followed by some abdominal thrusts. It worked. Anna saved Leia’s life.
Anna’s mom explained that when she asked Anna how she knew what to do, Anna replied, “I’m not sure I could have told you what to do, but I knew what to do. I knew what to do when I needed to do it.” Anna said because her Red Cross training had her perform CPR in the class, rather than just show it, she immediately remembered how to respond in the moment.
“I have to say that’s really a great testimony to the kind of training that the American Red Cross offers…,” said Anna’s mom.
Leia’s lucky she had a prepared babysitter like Anna. If you were in a situation where someone was choking, would you know what to do? Take our one-minute quiz and find out!
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Watch Anna recount her story below!
If you want to become a certified babysitter, sign up for a Red Cross class!