A retired doctor subbing as a busboy at an Illinois restaurant not only cleared tables, but also cleared the air passage of a choking customer, saving her life.
Bill Benge, a retired interventional cardiologist, was working a shift as a busboy at the Trifecta Grill in Winnetka on Saturday, WGN-TV reported. He was filling in on the busy St. Patrick's Day weekend after his daughter, Alina Benge, suggested her father could help the understaffed restaurant.
“Just because he’s had the time on his hands,” Alina Benge told the television station. “He’s been around the house, and you know, not doing a whole lot.”
Just after Bill Benge arrived at the restaurant, a woman began choking on her food.
"He wasn't here for more than five minutes with his apron on and a lady had stopped breathing from choking," restaurant owner Patrick O'Neil told WGN-TV.
Bill Benge came to the table and applied the Heimlich maneuver to the woman, clearing her air passage.
"We did that (Heimlich maneuver) two or three times and she was able to clear the object," Bill Benge told WGN-TV.
The woman who was rescued did not want to be interviewed, but Alina Benge was grateful her father was there.
"I kind of go back in my mind and say, what if he wasn't here? How would that have turned out? What would the outcome be? I'm just so lucky my dad was here that night," Alina Benge told WGN-TV.
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