Lauren was feeding her baby cereal when he began to choke on a piece. She didn't panic but immediately sprung into action, leaning the baby on her knee while she gave him a set of back blows. A few seconds later, the piece came out and the baby was perfectly fine. What Lauren remembered from the classes a few months earlier saved her baby's life.

Vivian, a mother of one of the Blink instructors, decided to come out and take a Blink class. She learned basic CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver and she left the class.

Just one week later, she was home with her daughter and her daughter’s friends. One of the friends was sucking on a lemonhead when she suddenly began to choke. She was turning purple and wasn’t breathing--the entire room went into a panic.

Vivian immediately jumped up and said, “I know what to do.” Vivian got behind her, did the Heimlich Maneuver and the lemonhead came flying out. The Blink class she took a week earlier saved her daughter’s friend’s life.

 Two years later, that same girl ended up marrying Vivian’s son and becoming her daughter-in-law.

It was snack time. Animal crackers were always a favorite. But when Sarah looked up, her one year old baby had a tear in her eye and wasn’t breathing. Sarah remembered exactly what to do from the Blink class she had attended just one summer earlier. Within ten seconds, the cookie was out and her baby was breathing again.

Evana was on her way back from running an errand at Home Depot. She smiled at a man passing by on the street. Seconds later, she witnessed him collapse. 

Evana looked around but saw no one else in sight. Cars were driving by on the busy street but they were all going too fast to notice the man lying on the sidewalk. She shouted out to him and nudged him, but there was no reaction. She poured water on him but he still didn’t react. So she knelt down and then, using her shirt as a mouth guard, she began CPR. Thirty compressions, two breaths. Repeat. And repeat again. And again. I can do this. I know what to do. Shortly thereafter, his eyes opened. He started breathing normally again. When the paramedics arrived, they couldn’t believe what had transpired—a high school girl had just saved this man’s life. 

Frieda buckled her baby into his high chair and poured some cereal onto the tray. She watched her son laughing as he put each cereal puff into his mouth. Then he stopped breathing. In a split second, a regular, carefree moment turned into one of stress and panic.

No one else was home. Without missing a beat, Frieda sprung into action and started performing the techniques she had learned just a few months earlier: thrusts on the back until the baby begins to breathe again. She continued until the baby spit up, and a wave of relief washed over her. But then she saw that he still wasn’t breathing. With tears and determination in her eyes, she continued with the thrusts, a little harder this time. A minute later, the piece of cereal come out. Her son began breathing again. She never hugged him harder than that day as tears turned to joy—her baby was okay.

Nicole approached Blink at one of the shul classes a few months after Blink Week and explained why she was joining her second Blink class in only a few months: earlier that month, her 6-year old was choking, and she quickly did the Heimlich Maneuver on her child, at which point the item came right out! So she decided it was never too soon to get a refresher on such important life-saving skills.

David was watching over his campers in the pool as they splashed away. A few of them were racing from end to end while others were trying to see how long they could hold their breath underwater before coming up for air. Benny (his name has been changed for anonymity) was excellent at that game, but on this day things didn’t seem right—he was way too good. David realized something was wrong, and as he peered into the water, he noticed Benny’s body begin to float to the top of the water, his face pale, lips purple, still as can be.

David immediately jumped into the water, dragged Benny out and began CPR. He pounded his fists into Benny’s chest and tried his hardest to breathe life into his lifeless camper. Within two minutes, David felt Benny’s body begin to move again as he started to spit up water. Hatzalah soon showed up on scene and they took over from there. 

That night at the hospital, the paramedics asked David what had transpired in those few minutes before they arrived on scene. After describing that afternoon’s traumatic events, the paramedics turned to David and said, “You saved this boy’s life. Had you not done what you did, he most likely would not have made it.” Thank G-d, Benny made a full recovery that night, and was back in camp just a few days later.

David called Blink the next day and said “Thank you. I saved a boy yesterday with the training you gave me just one week ago.”

Only a short while after the first Blink Week in 2015, there was an incident ­where a young camper was choking while on­ a bus during a camp trip. A fellow camper quickly noticed that his friend couldn't breathe and began to perform the Heimlich Maneuver--which he'd learned just a couple weeks earlier at Blink Week! Baruch Hashem, within seconds a chocolate chip cookie came flying out and the camper was breathing again.

Over Pesach, BLINK’s instructor and longtime Hatzalah member, Robby Lederman had the opportunity to respond to a Hatzalah call for an adult who was choking at his family seder. When Robby and his fellow responders arrived, however, thank G-d the object had already been dislodged.

Robby inquired as to what had transpired, and a young woman named Devin started to describe that during the meal, her uncle began to choke. Completely unable to breathe, he instantly pushed away from the table. That second, everyone noticed what was happening and began to panic. The young kids were rushed out of the room while the rest of the adults frantically tried to spring into action. Hatzalah was called while some of the adults tried to perform the Heimlich Maneuver but got nowhere as they were doing it all wrong.

Then, Devin stepped up and began to perform the Heimlich Maneuver properly. The stuck object began to budge. While she wasn’t strong enough to get the object out herself, she then guided an older relative how to properly perform the Heimlich Maneuver. He leaned the choking adult forward and began to correctly thrust up and until a huge piece of meat was expelled and the man was able to breathe again. This man’s life was saved simply due to G-d’s will and a bit of important knowledge and training on this young woman's part.

Fascinated by Devin’s story and how she kept calm when the rest of the adults had panicked, Robby inquired as to how old she was. She responded that she was still in high school—12th grade to be exact. When he slowly asked what school she was in, she said, “Wait, I recognize you—you were the one who taught me!” Devin had learned the Heimlich Maneuver in Blink’s High School training course in Magen David Yeshivah just a few months earlier—from Robby himself! Thank G-d, just 90 days later, she used that training to save her uncle’s life.

Blink’s first save was pure Hashgacha Peratit (Divine Intervention), as G-d brought together the right people at the right time to save this man’s life.