Dr. Heimlich, 96, Saves Choking Woman With Maneuver He Invented

Teresa Neumann : May 31, 2016
Newstaff – BBC

"God put me in this seat next to you, Dr. Heimlich, because I was gone. I couldn’t breathe at all." -Patty Ris

(Cincinnati, OH)—Dr. Henry Heimlich is famous throughout the world as the doctor who invented an anti-choking maneuver that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. (Screengrab via BBC News)

Several days ago Heimlich, who currently lives at the Dupree House retirement home in Cincinnati, noticed that a fellow resident—87-year-old Patty Ris—looked rather strange. She "had a skin color that was no longer pink and her lips were out," he told the BBC.
   
As it turned out, Ris was choking on a piece of meat and would have died had Heimlich, or someone else, not noticed her distress. 
Surprisingly, some sources say that although Heimlich had invented the Heimlich maneuver, he may never have used it until he came to Ris’ aid.

"It was very gratifying," he told The Guardian. "That moment [when the meat was dislodged] was very important to me. I knew about all the lives my maneuver has saved over the years and I have demonstrated it so many times but here, for the first time, was someone sitting right next to me who was about to die."  (Screengrab via BBC News)

In an Episcopal Retirement Services video, Heimlich described the scenario, saying, "I sort of felt wonderful about it, just having saved that girl. I knew it was working all over the world..." 

For her part, Ris reportedly wrote Heimlich a thank you note which, according to the Episcopal Services above, read, "God put me in this seat next to you, Dr. Heimlich, because I was gone. I couldn’t breathe at all."