Correction: A previous version of this story identified Rob McCann as the principal of Paris Independent High School. McCann is actually the assistant principal. (May 9, 2023)
LEXINGTON, Ky. — There are over 3,000 deaths from choking in the U.S. every year. Now, thanks to a Kentucky high school assistant principal, a Bourbon County student won’t be part of that statistic.
Teacher appreciation week got a whole new meaning at Paris Independent High School and Robert McCann, assistant principal with the high school for just a year, is already making a permanent mark.
“The incident happened fast. I mean, we’re talking like a minute and 25 seconds, right? That’s how long the surveillance video is,” McCann said. It’s how quickly McCann rescued a student after she was choking on a piece of her lunch.
“The student was at that middle table and she started to choke and she came over to me. She was unable to speak, which was a good thing for me to know that she was choking, and then I went right into the Heimlich maneuver,” he explained.
An educator for 18 years, McCann says he learned the life skill as a lifeguard and football coach. During lunches, McCann works in the cafeteria. With around 230 students overall in the highschool, it’s typically not as exciting as that day was.
McCann says if he had not been there — that these students would have helped their classmates.
“We have probably six or so kids who are certified… and they’ll graduate with 15 hours of college credit, so they probably could’ve done more if I wasn’t there,” McCann explained.
Currently, educators in Kentucky are not required to be CPR certified. But McCann encourages folks to learn the abdominal thrust, as it can be performed on anyone older than one.
“There’s nothing that says a teacher has to know how to do the Heimlich or anything like that, but probably something that would be good to know,” he said.
Last week, Gov. Andy Beshear, D-KY, praised McCann’s heroism—naming him ‘’Team Kentucky All-Star of the Week.”
Since the incident, McCann says he has checked in on the student, peers and parents who are glad about the outcome.
He says it took a moment to realize how life-altering the situation was when it occurred, as he hoped to keep the students calm, but jumped into action without hesitation.
“I don’t want to underplay the whole life-saving component of it, but you know as teachers and educators, we will try to save lives every day,” McCann said. “Whether they were in the classroom, teaching Algebra two, or my big content before I became a principal was environmental science—we are in those situations to change lives,” McCann said.
McCann says he wouldn’t hesitate to save a student or staff member if an emergency pops up in the future.