CPR training helps educator

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - A career Vigo County educator says he’s the perfect example of why CPR training and basic first aid skills are invaluable to folks in most any field.

Three weeks ago, Danny Raubuck, dean of students at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, was forced to administer the Heimlich Maneuver on a 6th grade boy who was choking in the cafeteria during lunchtime.

“(He) came toward me with his hand on his throat,” Raubuck recalled. “I saw him jump out of his chair, and come toward me and I asked him if he was choking as you’re trained to do; and of course, it’s pretty obvious he’s shaking his head.”

Raubuck, 56, a former coach and physical education teacher, was honored earlier this week by Vigo County school board members, who presented Raubuck with a certificate of appreciation. The reason? Raubuck has performed the same life-saving skills on another student already.

In December 2006, 8th grader Milton Brinza, was choking in the same lunchroom on a yeast roll.

“I couldn’t breathe at all,” Brinza, now 20, shared with News 10. I know I was “close to one minute without air!”

Brinza remembered vividly how Danny Raubuck administered the Heimlich Maneuver on him.

“And it worked,” he said. “He saved my life!”

Raubuck, who has two grown children of his own, said he has no intention of retiring, or of letting his emergency responder skills lapse. But in his typical humble form, Raubuck also said he is no hero; that any of his colleagues at the school, grades 6, 7, and 8, would’ve done the same thing.