Staff members at Glendale High School were honored May 21 for helping rescue a choking student in April.
The Springfield Board of Education honored the staff members during the “Honoring Excellence” portion of Tuesday’s meeting. The group included Glendale Principal Josh Groves, Assistant Principal Lisa Anderson, school police Officer Justin Murray, nurses Lori Harmon and Kristin Rohrer, and counselors Jamie Temple and Kristi Ditzfeld.
Stephen Hall, chief communications officer for Springfield Public Schools, said the team’s actions helped save a life.
“Your heroic response to a life-threatening emergency prevented an unimaginable tragedy for one of our students, his family and the Glendale school community,” Hall said during the meeting. “Each of you played an important role in this positive outcome and we want to thank you for being prepared to act when faced with this dire situation.”
On April 18, Murray saw the student choking during lunch, Hall said. Murray called for emergency responders, then he and Groves started working on dislodging the object from the student’s airway.
The police officer and the principal moved the student to the nurse’s office, where Harmon and Rohrer helped. After multiple efforts, they managed to clear the student’s airway.
As those four worked to save the student, Anderson, Temple and Ditzfeld contacted the student’s parents, then offered support to a friend and others who saw the student choke.
