HILLSDALE, N.J.—A recent 13-year-old Hillsdale Junior Police Academy graduate used the Heimlich maneuver—which he had learned only weeks before—to dislodge food obstructing the airway of his 12-year-old cousin as he struggled to breathe.
Joseph “Joey” Dargan of Stockton Street, was able to dislodge a Goldfish cracker or crackers that somehow got stuck in Jake’s airway and caused him to choke and gasp.
Joey approached his cousin from behind and performed the Heimlich maneuver, delivering a series of abdominal thrusts that were able to expel the stuck food item on the fourth thrust.
“It was scary when I saw that he was choking,” Joey told Pascack Press Aug. 15.
Joey said when he realized his cousin could not speak and indicated he was choking by putting his hands near his throat—a universal sign for choking—he put his recent training from Hillsdale’s Junior Police Academy into action.
“I went and got behind him and I did it the way I was taught. I did it three times and it didn’t come out. And I did it a fourth time and it finally shot out. I knew that I had to stay calm and I had to get it out,” Joey said.
Joey said he initially thought his cousin was kidding around but quickly realized that was not the case.
“I think everybody should learn it,” he said of the Heimlich maneuver, a first-aid procedure for dislodging an obstruction from a person’s windpipe.
Joey said he recently learned the life-saving maneuver at the police academy but not yet in school. He said he would recommend the local one-week Junior Police Academy for fifth and sixth graders, noting he attended it the last two years.
“I loved it. It was so much fun and it taught us a lot of important things,” added Joey.
He took the 2019 academy along with his brother, Owen, who is one-year younger.
Joey is entering seventh grade this fall at George White Middle School in Hillsdale.
Joey’s mom, Michelle, said the choking incident occurred July 31 while the family and cousins were vacationing in Sea Isle City.
“I was just so proud of him and really impressed that he was able to do that,” said Michelle, noting that much credit goes to police officers who helped run the Junior Police Academy.
“I wanted to thank them because too often the police are not thanked. I wanted to thank them and tell them ‘what a great program’ they have here,” said Michelle.
“I really don’t think that they [police] get enough thanks for what they do,” she said.
“It’s really a cool, powerful message that these kids [Junior Police Academy graduates] are doing the right thing and he was just taught how to do this,” said Hillsdale Police Capt. Sean Smith. “He was able to do this and save a life by getting the food expelled and returning normal breathing.”
Smith said Joey would likely be honored with a plaque honoring his use of lifesaving techniques at the Sept. 3 Borough Council meeting.
Smith said this year’s junior academy was organized and run by police officer Dave Sayers and Sgt. Michael Camporeale.
The Heimlich maneuver was first popularized in 1974, when Dr. Henry Heimlich published a technique for using abdominal thrusts to prevent choking.
It works due to abdominal thrusts that lift the diaphragm and help push air from the lungs, which usually causes a stuck food item to be expelled.