I met Dr. Meir Wikler at a shabbaton and he shared the following personal story with me

The Background

The Rosh Hashanah Call

Dr. Meir Wikler's  Story: I met Dr. Meir Wikler at a shabbaton and he shared the following personal story with me.

MY

friend Dr. Meir Wikler received a call one day from a woman in Manchester, England, who wanted to relate an anecdote that happened as a result of reading one of his stories. Needless to say he was intrigued.

The woman said she had read a story in Dr. Wikler’s book Zorei’a Tzedakos (2003, Feldheim) about a group of 11-year-old girls in summer camp who sat in on a CPR course on a rainy day.

The nurse giving the course happened to be teaching that day on the topic of how to save a baby from choking. She demonstrated all the techniques to use when a baby was choking: Sit down and position the baby face down on your forearm, which should be resting on your thigh; support his head in your hand, angling his body so his head is lower than his bottom; and give a series of five hard smacks between his shoulder blades with the heel of your other hand. The girls listened in rapt attention the whole time.

Later that year, two of those girls ended up using the techniques they learned that day.

The first girl was sitting with her family at the dinner table when her baby brother began turning blue. Nobody knew what to do; everyone was in a panic.

The girl picked up her baby brother, banged on his back in the right spot, and something popped out of his mouth. The baby began breathing normally again. His sister had just saved his life.

“When did you learn how to do this?” her mother asked her.

“It was a rainy day in camp and my counselor took us to the dining room to play games,” said the girl. “The nurse was teaching a course on how to save a baby from choking and she let us watch.”

The mother was so grateful to the nurse that she called to thank her and tell her what had happened.

The second girl was babysitting for a neighbor who wanted to run to a nearby vort for a few minutes. When the neighbor returned, her small children told her that the babysitter had just saved the baby’s life.

“The baby started choking,” they explained, “and she knew exactly what to do.”

The neighbor was shocked that her baby had almost died when she was gone for just a few minutes, and shocked that this 11-year-old girl had known exactly what to do. She called the girl’s mother to tell her that her daughter had just saved her baby’s life. And the girl’s mother called the nurse to let her know that her CPR course had saved yet another life.

The Manchester woman continued her story for Dr. Wikler.

“I was reading this on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, waiting for my husband to come home for the seudah,” she said. “I had just closed the book and put it down when the phone rang. My husband is a member of Hatzola Manchester, and I served as a dispatcher. So I answered the phone.

“The woman calling was frantic that her baby was choking. I told her I was sending Hatzola to her address, but she screamed, ‘The baby is turning blue!’

“I had just read your description of how to save a choking baby in your story. So I calmly walked her through the process.

“ ‘Okay, sit down in a chair, pick up your baby and turn him over so he’s face down on your forearm, and rest your forearm on your thigh. Support his head in your hand and angle his body down so his head is lower than his bottom. Now, between his shoulder blades, give five strong smacks with the heel of your hand.’

“The mother on the other end of the line followed my instructions and seconds later I heard her joyous reaction when the baby spat out the offending item.

“Just then the Hatzola members dashed into her house, but their services were no longer needed.

“As it turned out, this young mother was herself married to a Hatzola member! I asked her why she didn’t just call her husband. She said in her moment of panic, all she knew was that she needed to call Hatzola, and she reached me. And because I had literally just read your story, I knew exactly what to do.” —

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1052)