Megan Fisher and Maureen McLaughlin are sisters who teach health and physical education at Dickerson Middle School.
Recently they had to rely on their training and their sense of duty to save the life of a student who was in distress in the gym.
The student began to look ill after swallowing from a bottle of water. Fisher noticed he was choking on a plastic bottle cap, and she and Maureen worked to apply the Heimlich maneuver and back blows until the cap came loose.
“It’s one of those moments where you hope your instincts take over,” McLaughlin said in a release by the Cobb County School District. “We’ve trained for emergencies like this, but you never really think you’ll have to do it.”
Fisher added: “It felt longer than it probably was because our adrenaline was pumping. But as soon as I saw what was happening, I knew Maureen was there to help me. It was comforting to have her there.”
Here’s the rest of the story, which explains the sisters’ training with the Dickerson First Responder Team, which has CPR-certified staff and conducts drills throughout the school year to stay sharp.
“Because of their quick actions, they saved a life,” Dickerson principal Bradley Blackman said. “They didn’t panic. They didn’t run away. They jumped right in and did what they were trained to do.”
The sisters also were honored by the Cobb school district in its “Heroes Among Us” award.
Related:
- Results from the 1st Wheeler-Walton chess tournament
- Walton Drama to present fall musical production of ‘9 to 5’
- Eastside Christian School takes ‘Lion King Jr.’ on stage
- Cobb school board member settles suit in business case
- Dickerson MS Percussion Ensemble earns state, national honors
- Wheeler leads Cobb, 2nd in Ga. in 2025 ACT scores
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up and you’re good to go!
