School nurse aids visiting baby

Battle Ground — When an April 24 visitation event for next year’s kindergarten students and families turned into a medical emergency, school nurse Renee Klein sprang into action. Laura McBride had brought her son Gavin, 5, to the kindergarten roundup at Glenwood Heights Primary along with her daughter, Marley, 3 and son, Kellan, 9 months. When Kellan began choking on dry cereal, mom tried applying the Heimlich maneuver for infants, but it didn’t work. A teacher summoned nurse Klein, who instructed someone to call 911, turned Kellan upside down in her arms and struck his back in just the right spot with the right amount of force, but he continued choking. Klein applied the maneuver again, and this time it worked. When the paramedics arrived, they concluded the boy was fine. “This was a wake-up call,” said mom Laura McBride. “I’ve signed up for a first aid class.”