HATFIELD — Near the end of a field trip to Six Flags New England in Agawam last Friday, Smith Academy sophomore Eli Bai and a close friend went to a food stand to order their lunch, choosing chicken tenders and a hot dog.
Moments later, while Bai was enjoying the chicken, he realized his friend was struggling to get down the last bite of the hot dog, which had lodged in his throat; the blocked airway meant that he couldn’t feel what was in his mouth. Bai had to make a quick decision about what to do.
“His face turned completely purple and I stood behind him and did the Heimlich maneuver,” Bai said, noting that the stuck food came out and his friend was immediately back to normal.
“I’m very happy he’s breathing and alive today,” Bai added.
For his life-saving work, Bai was honored by Smith Academy Principal Conor Driscoll at a schoolwide assembly Thursday morning. Driscoll presented Bai with a plaque, while a certificate with similar recognition came from the Hatfield Fire Department and Fire Chief Robert Flaherty.
Driscoll told the Grades 6-12 students, seated in the Zoo Crew section of the bleachers in the school gymnasium, that they were being called to celebrate a student for his “quick thinking, quick action” that saved the life of one of their own.
There is a term for someone who helps another in need, Driscoll said. “That term is hero,” Driscoll said. “Eli’s a hero.”
Driscoll also quoted a phrase from the Talmud, “whoever saves one life, saves the world entire,” observing how there is a ripple effect from the kindness of saving another that spreads outward.
Applause came from the other students in the bleachers and the teachers and staff lining a wall of the gymnasium as the student whose life Bai saved handed him the plaque.
Bai said he credits Christelle Boyle, who taught the ninth-grade health class where he learned both CPR and the Heimlich maneuver and other aspects of first aid, and that while he also did reading and other projects in the class, it was the hands-on activities that have stayed with him.
“I never thought I would be in a situation where I’d have to use it,” Bai said. “It felt great because he’s one of my great friends.”
Driscoll said that it’s always remarkable how what happens within the school building, the learning in the classrooms, can be applied to real life on the outside. “That right there is the entire goal of education, in a nutshell,” Driscoll said.
Also on hand to observe the brief ceremony was Bai’s mother, Shari Bai, of Hatfield, who said she was surprised that her son had learned about the Heimlich maneuver.
“I’m pretty proud of him, and really grateful,” she said. “As a mom, I think about what might have happened if the tables had been turned.”
Shari Bai said she is also pleased that the outcome was positive.
“If he wasn’t there for him, his best friend may not be standing next to him,” she said. “He really is heroic; he jumped up and did it and saved his life.”
