Library: News Releases
OKLAHOMA CAPITOL ---Three Choctaw County employees of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services have been honored by the department for quick action in saving the life of a foster child.
Each of the three employees was presented an OKDHS Certificate of Commendation, the department’s highest award, at the February meeting of the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services in Oklahoma City.
Receiving commendations were Vicki Bell, Child Welfare Specialist IV; Jerri Griffin, Child Welfare Specialist I; and Jessie McDaniel, Child Welfare Specialist I.
At the OKDHS office in Hugo last spring, an 18-month-old boy aspirated on jelly beans given to him by his mother. Griffin was with the mother and child and immediately called Bell and McDaniel for help. Both Bell and McDaniel attempted the Heimlich maneuver and did seem to loosen the obstruction. A call had been made to 911, but there was no sound of an ambulance siren.
The hospital was a short distance away, and the child had begun to show respiratory stress and signs of cyanosis, so the mother carried the child and McDaniel drove them to the emergency room.
The mother told the workers later that her child is alive because of them.
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