Beaulieu recently found out that a Queen Charlotte Secondary School (QCSS) teacher saved a student whose breathing was impaired after choking on some food. The teacher used her CPR knowledge gained from courses sponsored by Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation, one of which Beaulieu taught.

The QCSS teacher recounted the life-saving tale in a story posted to the ACT Foundation’s website.

“As I was walking back to the kitchen, I noticed a student, her hands clutching her neck.” The teacher said she quickly realized the young girl was choking. “She looked scared. I asked her if she could breathe and she nodded no.”

While a couple of students nearby went to call the emergency services, the teacher performed abdominal thrusts on the young girl. After the fifth thrust, the young girl started to breathe again.

“This news is so gratifying to hear,” said Beaulieu. “In my 30 years of teaching these courses, it reinforces how important it is to prepare people to respond to life-threatening events that can happen anywhere, anytime.”

She said practising CPR techniques gives a person confidence in knowing what to do when a person is in distress.

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization establishing free CPR and defibrillator training programs in Canadian high schools. BCEHS has been a provincial partner since 2005 and has helped train over 325,000 students on how to care for a patient who isn’t breathing until paramedics arrive.