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Shelby Pickard is a hero in her workplace and she’s only been employed there about a month.

As part of her new job with the Chisago Lakes Achievement Center, Pickard was required to take a first aid training course. She is a job coach for Achievement Center consumers working at Green Acres Nursing Home, which makes her solely responsible for four developmentally delayed adults.

Little did Pickard realize that only weeks would pass before she’d save the life of someone using the very techniques she learned in that first aid course.

Instructor Dan Schwabe, mentioned that he is gratified when he gets to hand-out a lifesaving award like the one presented to Pickard Monday.

He is thrilled to hear his efforts have meant the difference between life and death. His company, CPR ETC offers emergency training of all levels, since 1979. He said he tries to teach practical skills that are easy to apply in real life situations, and apparently they are.

Pickard said the emergency training lesson literally flashed through her mind when she saw one of her clients was choking, turning blue and in serious trouble.

Pickard said she took two deep breaths, just like Schwabe had advised his students, and she calmly assessed the situation. She then did the Heimlich maneuver exactly as she’d been instructed.

It took about 40 times, Pickard said. She just kept at it, because that was another item Schwabe stressed in his course. Any material that is lodged might need many thrusts to get it out, she remembered being told.

“It was good I had that training,” Pickard stated.

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