Witness to a Terrifying Scene

I'm still rattled by something I witnessed at Whole Foods today. I went in around 5:00 to pick up a few items. As I was leaving the produce area, I heard some commotion behind me and then someone on the loudspeaker said, "Rob, come to produce IMMEDIATELY!" I turned around and saw a guy (the father?) apparently attempting a Heimlich maneuver on a little blond girl. Then I heard someone say, "There's got to be a doctor in here!" and I shouted "Should I call 911?" because I happened to be right next to the courtesy phone. Someone said, "They already called." I was about 20 feet away from where the scene was unfolding. Then I heard on the loudspeaker, "If there's a doctor in the store, please go to the produce area IMMEDIATELY!" and I saw a woman run over from the dairy area. I started crying and shaking and just sunk to the floor with my hands over my face. Every now and then I'd glance over and see them still doing thrusts on this little girl. All that kept running through my brain was, "I'm about to see a child die. I'm right here and there's nothing I can do, and she's going to choke to death." Then someone said, "There's a paramedic," and I saw him take her. Then there was a burst of applause and cheers, which I took to mean that she'd expelled something or started breathing or whatever. But I could see they were still working on her, and a woman (the mother?) started shrieking and wailing. Then the ambulance came. I'm not quite sure of the sequence of events, and I don't know how long the whole episode took. On the one hand, it seemed like forever that they were thumping this little girl; on the other hand, the EMTs arrived pretty darn quickly. I was weeping and shaking from head to toe; I couldn't even stand up. Afterward I saw the woman whom I presumed to be a doctor and asked her if the girl was OK. She said, "Well, she was breathing, but she was still quite blue." She didn't look very calm about it, either. I really had to pull myself together just to drive home, and then I lost it again. When I go to Whole Foods tomorrow, I will try to find out what happened, although frankly I'm sort of afraid to know.

Comments

[scott]

How horrifying. Seeing children in danger has got to be the most anxiety-inducing thing there is. My son choked on something once. I wasn't home at the time. The paramedics were called but he had coughed it out by the time they got there, thank goodness. I myself once choked on something when I was small. My dad stuck his finger down my throat and pulled it out. I remember it vividly.

[Kathryn]

Seeing a life-and-death situation like that can really shake you up and leave you rattled for hours and sometimes days. Part of it is just having it thrust upon you suddenly, out of the blue while going about your normally hum-drum day. One minute you're looking for arugala, the next minute you're witness to an almost surreal drama of life.

[Lisa]

How AWFUL!!! Did you find out anything further when you went back?

[Margaret]

Very scary! I'm glad she's OK though.