Baby choking on mashed potatoes saved by patron at NC Golden Corral on Thanksgiving
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the life-saving action used on the baby was the Heimlich maneuver.
A patron at a North Carolina Golden Corral may have saved a baby from choking to death on mashed potatoes Thanksgiving Day.
“Thank you for saving my daughter’s life,” Hannah Marie Jarvis of Asheville posted on Facebook Thursday night. She hoped to find the woman. The Golden Corral is in the 2500 block of Chimney Rock Road in Hendersonville.
“If anyone knows who Deborah Rouse is, this lady is a hero!” Jarvis continued in her post. “If it weren’t for this angel, my daughter probably would have been wheeled away in an ambulance today.
“Thank you for saving my daughter’s life and thank you Trish from Golden Corral who helped intervene as well!” Jarvis posted. “My family and I can’t thank you enough for helping.”
Rouse replied to Jarvis on Facebook Friday night after seeing a news article posted online by Asheville TV station WLOS about Rouse’s life-saving maneuver.
“Good evening Mrs. Hannah, I saw the news article and I messaged you my number!” Debra Rouse of Andrews, S.C., posted to Jarvis on Facebook. “I’m elated that Callie is doing well, y’all have been on my mind since yesterday! Love you all and take care.”
Rouse included three heart emojis in her post.
“We were just feeding her some mashed potatoes,” Jarvis told WLOS. “She just started gagging all of a sudden. She was choking.”
“She held her down, like this, taking multiple blows to her back,” Jarvis told the station of Rouse’s actions to save 7-month-old Calli. “It was miraculous, she started breathing again.”
A manager at the Golden Corral confirmed the story when an Observer reporter called the restaurant Friday night.
On Facebook, Jarvis reported that her daughter was seen at a local emergency room. “My daughter is fine and .... is perfectly happy and healthy now,” Jarvis posted.
This story was originally published November 24, 2018 at 8:51 AM.