Dr. Henry Heimlich never used his namesake maneuver on an individual who was really choking until last Monday night.
According to reports, the 96-year old retired surgeon was sitting next to a woman in a Cincinnati retirement community, who began to choke on a piece of hamburger.
Heimlich told NBC News he immediately recognized that the 87-year-old woman was choking.
“I just realized, I’ve got to go over and save her,” he said.
Heimlich successfully performed his maneuver, which he first described to the world in 1974, on Patty Ris.
According to NBC News, dining hall staff at the Deupree House senior living community are trained in the Heimlich maneuver and used it before on the residents and was prepared to save Ris.
“He saw Dr. Heimlich had it under control,” Bryan Reynolds, integrated marketing director for Episcopal Retirement Services, told NBC News. “He was ready to step in, but Dr. Heimlich had it taken care of.”