Para's fast action saves chapter leader's life

Bruce Cotler

PS 81, Brooklyn, Chapter Leader Camille Eaddy, paraprofessional Tonia Kearney-Williams and teacher Iva Antoine at the spot where Kearney-Williams saved Eaddy’s life.

She stumbled to the doorway of her classroom, clutching her throat, unable to speak or breathe.

The fresh fruit salad that Camille Eaddy had been enjoying a moment ago, on a break in her classroom at Brooklyn’s PS 81, had suddenly turned lethal.

She was choking to death, desperate, knowing she didn’t have much time left. The hallway was empty.

Just then, paraprofessional Tonia Kearney-Williams happened to come upstairs with 2nd-grade teacher Iva Antoine. When Kearney-Williams asked what was wrong, Eaddy, unable to answer, collapsed.

As Antoine ran downstairs to call 911, Kearney-Williams got to work, administering the Heimlich maneuver. This wasn’t an exercise in a first aid class but a real-life emergency, with Eaddy losing consciousness. Would it work?

Kearney-Williams kept at it, slow and steady, as she had been trained to do as a member of the School Building Response Team.

Some moments later, which felt like an eternity to both women, the offending piece of pineapple popped out and Eaddy took a deep breath. EMS arrived shortly after.

“Choking is a terrifying experience,” said Eaddy, the energetic chapter leader at the Bedford-Stuyvesant school, who is back to her old self again.

“You are unable to breathe, feel your consciousness slipping away and have no control over the situation,” she said.

Eaddy pointed out that ironically — and luckily — Kearney-Williams had just completed a Code Blue drill that morning.

She said she cannot stress enough the importance of every school having a well-trained response team in place.

“The life they save could be yours,” Eaddy said. “Thank God Tonia and Iva came up the stairs when they did. I will be forever grateful to Tonia and credit her with saving my life.”

Bruce CotlerEaddy (fourth from right) with the school response team (from left) Brenda Cumberland, Kyesha Jackson, Karen Henderson, Heather Hunte, Angela Kirton and Kearney-Williams with Principal Cheryl Ault-Barker (far right).