Practical knowledge
Student uses lifesaving skill learned in class to aid sister
IMPERIAL — Alexandro Nieves Burgos, a junior at Imperial High School, never imagined that something he learned in class would save his sister’s life.
Nieves is enrolled in Imperial Valley Regional Occupation Program’s fire science course, which teaches students entry-level Fire Academy skills, including first aid and CPR. Among the life-saving skills Nieves learned was the Heimlich Maneuver, a technique for aiding choking victims. It quickly came in handy. “I was sitting down at my desk doing homework,” he recalled. “My sister came in and told me that my other sister was choking.”
A water bottle cap was blocking her throat and she couldn’t breathe. Nieves said he performed the Heimlich maneuver on his sister for approximately 20 seconds,
“The maneuver helped flip the cap and gave her throat a space to breathe,” he said.
He didn’t panic when he saw his sister choking.
“I guess everybody would be a little bit nervous right? But I didn’t, I was just trying to help,” he added.
After the incident, Nieves dialed 911. Firefighters and paramedics arrived at their residence.
His sister was taken to the hospital in Brawley, where a doctor removed the water bottle cap from her throat.
“The doctor said that if I didn’t do the maneuver, she probably would have suffocated,” Nieves said.
His parents thanked him for saving his sister’s life and acknowledged the maneuver was a good skill to learn at school.
“I joined the (fire science) program for the experience, I wanted to know what it was like, and sounded interesting,” Nieves said.
“We teach a very small portion of the Heimlich maneuver, but it is enough to give you the essential skills to be able to use it out in the field,” said Daniel Martinez, CTE fire instructor at Imperial High School.
For 12 years, Martinez has worked in the Imperial Firefighting Department as a Fire Captain, and this is his first year as a school instructor in the program.
Three weeks after showing the maneuver in class, Nieves approached Martinez and told him that he assisted his sister at home who was choking.
“In the fire department it is our job to impact on people’s lives, and in this case, it was a teenager,” Martinez said. “It was a skill that we taught him very briefly and he used it.”
Martinez said he is very proud of his student’s life-saving accomplishment.
“It was amazing and rewarding that he was able to use those skills,” he said.
Besides showing high school students a career path toward the fire department, Martinez added this course shows skills that every person can use.
“This is the perfect example,” he said. “This is a skill we taught in the program. You can go years without using it, but in his case, it was a matter of weeks.”
Even though Nieves hasn’t decided what professional path he will seek in the future, he found the IVROP fire science program very helpful.
“Kids should look to get into IVROP programs because they teach good valuable skills like fire science, where I learned the maneuver. God forbid you to need to use this, but it’s not a bad thing to know.”