California Teacher a Real Lifesaver

Emily Cavallero says being able to deal with any situation at any time is part of what it means to be a teacher.

So when her sixth-grade students told her on May 3 that a boy in the next room was choking to death, Cavallero did what came naturally to her.

She panicked. And then she saved his life.

"The teacher came running in from next door, saying 'He's choking! He's dying! Help!'" said Cavallero, a Novato resident who teaches social studies and language arts at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael.

After asking the other teacher to call 911, Cavallero found sixth-grade student Isaias Morel caught between a chair and a desk. She pulled him out and saw that the boy, who had been eating chicken nuggets, was unable to breathe.

"He was really choking. There was no air going in whatsoever," Cavallero said. "I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver 15 times to get the object free."

Cavallero, 32, learned how to respond to a choking victim last year as part of a CPR course taught by the Novato Fire Protection District.

It wasn't the first time Cavallero saved a life.

In 1994, Cavallero was at her parents' house with boyfriend Ken - now her husband - when they smelled smoke and realized the next-door neighbors' house was on fire.

They entered the house and found a man and his son passed out on the floor. Emily and Ken carried the two outside, handing them over to emergency medical personnel, who had just arrived.

"It was the smoke that had made (the neighbors) unconscious," Cavallero said. "He had gone in to get his son, and carried him until he was almost to the door, about 5 to 7 feet away. He must have been there a long time, because his skin had begun to peel away."

Both the father and son survived.

To Cavallero, the incident still seems unreal.

"I don't think either of us realized what we had done until the next day," said Cavallero, whose husband is the son of Novato firefighter Ken Cavallero.

The Novato Fire District board honored Cavallero last night with a special presentation in recognition of her achievements.

Although Isaias Morel says he has no memory of the incident, other students and teachers at Davidson Middle School are still talking about his rescue by Cavallero.

"She's wonderful, and she knew exactly what to do in that situation," Principal Ed Colucci said. "We're very proud of her."

Cavallero has used the incident to teach her students about safety.

"I've told them that telling somebody and asking for help was exactly the right thing to do," she said. "And I've showed them how to hold their hands in front of their throat - that's the universal sign for choking, and it lets somebody know they're in trouble."

She's also planning on returning to the Novato Fire Protection District to receive more training - and to pass it on to the ones she loves.

"My daughter is only 31Ú2, but she already knows to 'stop, drop and roll'" in case of fire, Cavallero said.

Read more Novato stories at the IJ's Novato page.

Contact Rob Rogers via e-mail at rrogers@marinij.com

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