Woman thanks Milton firefighters who saved her life

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

MILTON, Ga. — Three weeks after she nearly choked to death on a piece of steak at Cabernet, 74-year-old Iris Sherman made a trip to Station 44 to thank the firefighters who saved her life.

“Every minute is a blessing. Every second is a blessing, and I thought I lived that way before,” Sherman said. “But it feels different now.

Sherman, alongside Milton Fire Capt. Mark Haskins, walked into the station Feb. 8 overwhelmed with gratitude. Most who were on scene at the restaurant awaited her in the station’s common room.

In the poignant reunion, Milton Fire Capt. Ryan James, also a paramedic, was the first to approach Sherman with a long embrace. Using a video laryngoscope, aka GlideScope, James was able to visualize the obstruction in Sherman’s airway that day, then dislodge it using forceps.

“God bless you all for what you do,” Sherman said to the packed room.

Sherman moved to Milton from New York around two months ago to be with her children. She acknowledged the incident as “quite the welcome.”

“My children say I can now eat soup and baby food,” Sherman said. “My daughter’s birthday is coming up on the 13th of this month, and I said, ‘What do you want to do for your birthday?’ She said, ‘Not go to a steakhouse.’”

Sherman’s children were with her at Cabernet. It was Sherman’s birthday.

“I didn’t get to have a piece of cake,” she said.

While she hasn’t gotten a chance to visit the Cabernet manager, Sherman said he was incredible. Everyone in the restaurant got a free meal, she said.

After a 911 call went out, Milton Police officers were the first to arrive at the restaurant. Because the Heimlich maneuver didn’t work, officers began CPR. A person’s survivability falls about 10 percent with every passing minute that a patient goes without CPR, Haskins said.

Sherman was non-responsive with no pulse by the time firefighters arrived and took over. She went three minutes without a pulse before she started breathing again.

When James first opened Sherman’s airway with a standard laryngoscope, he couldn’t see the obstruction. He was quickly handed the video laryngoscope, which provided a clearer visual of her larynx and allowed him to use forceps to dislodge the steak.

James said fellow firefighter Sidney Davis’ “excellent CPR” helped push the obstruction up, allowing him to get a better grab on it.

Milton firefighter/paramedic Derek Hoffman gave a demonstration of the GlideScope on a dummy in the bay area of Station 44. Sherman, petite in frame, stood on her tiptoes to get a view.

The GlideScope’s shape is like the standard laryngoscope, found in any first responder’s medical kit. It has a bladelike device, but longer and more angular, and with HDMI hook-up for the camera and screen.

Milton has a progressive fire department, James said. In addition to providing emergency services, the department houses CARES, or Community Advocates for Referral and Education Services, which is a free health care program led by Hoffman.

“Our city takes good care of us,” James said. “They give us good equipment to work with.”

Once James dislodged the steak, first responders resumed CPR, and Sherman started breathing again. An ambulance transported her to the North Fulton Hospital, where doctors took over.

By the end of the day, Sherman was walking around the hospital room with two broken ribs, fractured during the CPR procedures. The last thing she remembered was being served her meal.

“I can say the steak was yummy,” Sherman said. “I was eating like a horse.”