Candy from Christmas parties and parades resulted in two choking incidents during the week prior to the Christmas vacation, said Paul Hollingsworth, an assistant principal at Robertsdale High who oversees the day-to-day school bus operations at the high and feeder schools.

“Everyone knows about how Michael Patterson, a freshman at RHS, saved the life of Chad Hostnick, a first grade student at Elsanor Elementary School, by performing the Heimlich Maneuver to dislodge a piece of butterscotch,” Hollingsworth said. “On the Friday before we let out for Christmas we had another incident; only this time on the Elsanor to Seminole route.”

On that day Vicki Patrick, a utility bus driver who was substituting for Julia Ping, the route’s regular bus driver, picked up the normal load of children at Elsanor and headed to Seminole.

“I had just come to a stop to allow a student to get off the bus and cross in front of me when I felt this tug on my arm,” Patrick said. “A second grade girl by the name of Tessa Waters was standing beside me, her hands at her throat, with her eyes looking at me as big as saucers. The child was frightened, but above all else … she wasn’t breathing.”

Patrick put the bus in park, undid her seat belt and moved behind Waters, grasping her underneath the sternum as she did so.

“I started praying and pulling inward on her chest at the same time,” she said. “My sister had lost her four-year-old daughter, as well as her 10-year-old son in two separate accidents that were something like 10 years apart. I didn’t want this child’s parents to go through the same thing.”

The three upward thrusts didn’t get the sought-for results.

“She was in the process of straightening up when I bent her over once more and gave her three more thrusts,” Patrick said. “This time some mucus and such came out and I could tell she was getting air down her wind pipe. The peppermint was still there, but at least she was getting some air.”

The lady in the car behind the bus sensed an emergency so she got out to see what was going on.

“When this lady got on the bus and saw what was going on, as well as who the victim was, she lost it,” Patrick said. “I had to calm her and the students down by explaining that Tessa was getting air. The nice thing about Seminole is that everyone knows everyone else, so the lady took Tessa’s brother and they went to find her grandmother.”

In the meantime, Patrick had called 911, which dispatched an ambulance to Seminole.

“Tessa’s grandmother arrived in short order, so I asked the 911 dispatcher if they could take her to the Seminole Fire Department,” Patrick said. “The 911 dispatcher gave their approval, as the Fire Department was just a couple of blocks from where the bus was parked.”

“With Tessa headed for the Fire Department, and the ambulance headed to Seminole I was able to complete my route,” Patrick said. “When I had dropped off the last child I went to the Fire Station to see if they needed any additional information from me.”

Patrick said Waters was sitting up, wrapped in a blanket, and that the peppermint had either been dislodged by a paramedic or had gone on down to the stomach.

“What I know about the Heimlich Maneuver I learned from what I’ve seen on television,” she said. “I think it would be a good idea to get all of the bus drivers certified in CPR, the Heimlich Maneuver, and other life-saving techniques. As we saw, during that week, you can never tell when that kind of training will be of use.”

Patrick, who drove a bus for three years in Santa Rosa County, Fla., moved to Robertsdale over a year ago. She has been driving a bus for the Baldwin County School System as a utility driver since making the move from Navarre Beach, Fla.

“I love my job. Each and every student is so precious,” she said. “I know that their safety is in my hands while they are on that bus, so mine is a job that I take very seriously.”

Despite repeated warnings from Patrick about eating candy, she said the kids are going to do what they want when it comes to that.

“Despite all that went on that afternoon what really made this past Christmas so special was a phone call I received while I, my sister and best friend were baking pecan pies,” she said. “My daughter, who is in the Navy, called me and said she was pulling into the front yard. She currently serves aboard the USS Ronald Regan, which is based in California, so her visit came as a real shock.”

For Patrick, what goes around comes around, and one good deed often results in another that is coming her way.

“I just hope that something good will come from this experience,” she said. “I know it has for Tessa, but I hope that it will for my fellow bus drivers as well.”