VGCC Training Helps Nursing Student Save Life Of Choking Henderson Woman
There’s a song made popular by the group Alabama in which they sing, “I believe there are angels among us.” On Friday, July 15, Lynwood and Shelby Jones of Henderson met their angel.
The Joneses had stopped at a Henderson drive-in restaurant for lunch. About 2:30 p.m., Shelby Jones was eating a hamburger when she began to choke. Lynwood Jones realized his wife was in trouble and tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her.
“I tried three times, but I couldn’t get it right,” Lynwood said. Shelby could not talk or breathe. A crowd stood by watching, but no one attempted to help.
Lynwood Jones said a young lady pulled up, jumped out of her pickup and ran over to them. The young woman, Monica Mahl, told Shelby Jones to bend over the table, and she began to perform the Heimlich. After three tries, a large piece of lettuce that had been lodge in her throat flew out.
Monica Mahl has completed a year of pre-nursing studies at Vance-Granville Community College, and she will begin the Associate Degree Nursing program in August. “I learned the Heimlich maneuver in a First Aid and CPR class taught at Vance-Granville by Mike Huffaker,” Mahl said. “When I saw Mrs. Jones in trouble, I didn’t stop to think. What I had learned took over, and I was fortunate to be of help.”
Lynwood Jones said Monica Mahl was shook up by the incident, as were he and his wife. The Joneses got their lifesaver’s name and learned she was a VGCC student, but they didn’t get her phone number or address. They called the college on Monday, July 18, to find out how they could get in touch with Mahl to properly thank her.
On Wednesday, July 20, the Joneses met Mahl in the Student Services department at Vance-Granville. Shelby Jones said she had started seeing everything turn dark before Monica Mahl came to her rescue. Lynwood and Shelby Jones said Monica showed up at just the right time, and she is their angel. They also expressed appreciation to Mike Huffaker for his effective teaching.
Monica Mahl is a Virginia native who lives now in Henderson with her daughter, Bethanie, 13, and her boyfriend. She spent three years in the Army in the Quartermaster Corps and learned the Heimlich there. But she said she had pretty much forgotten it until taking it again in Huffaker’s class.
Upon completing her Associate Degree Nursing degree, Mahl plans to continue her nursing studies, get a master’s degree in pediatric nursing and work in a children’s hospital.
Regardless of what she does in the future, Monica Mahl is already an angel to one thankful Henderson couple.
Lynwood and Shelby Jones thank Monica Mahl, right, for saving Shelby Jones’ life when she was choking on lettuce from her hamburger. Mahl, a nursing student at Vance-Granville Community College, performed the Heimlich maneuver that she had learned in one of her pre-nursing classes to dislodge the lettuce.
