GRANT-VALKARIA, Fla. (WESH) — A lifesaving move was caught on camera at a restaurant in Grant-Valkaria, Florida.
“One of my tables started screaming, ‘Tara help! Tara help!’ and I could see that the person she was with couldn’t, just stopped breathing,” waitress Tara Swiderski says.
During the Sunday afternoon lunch rush at Rib City, a customer started choking. Swiderski jumped into action.
“I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think about it when it was happening, when I was doing it, I just wanted her to stop choking and start breathing,” Swiderski says.
Swiderski was trained in the Heimlich Maneuver during her years as a flight attendant and again when she started working at Rib City.
Video shows Swiderski calmly and consistently working to clear the obstruction. After several attempts, the woman started to cough and other medically trained Rib City staff members helped to calm her down.
Swiderski said the scary moment highlights the importance of people being trained in basic lifesaving skills.
“I first want to make restaurants aware that they should train their employees, just on the basics. I think it’s important for everyday people to know how to learn the basics, as well. You never know, you could be at home, your child, your brother, your sister, your parents, this could happen to them,” Swiderski said.
The woman in the video did not want to be identified by WESH 2 News, but Rib City staff members said she is expected to be okay.
Rib City is working to schedule another training session for more staff members to learn lifesaving skills.
