Alameda 9-Year-Old Praised For Helping Fellow Student
ALAMEDA (CBS SF) -- An East Bay elementary school student recently saved a classmate's life thanks to something he learned from mom and dad.
On Wednesday of last week at Ruby Bridges Elementary in Alameda, 7-year old Reem Assaidi was playing on the monkey bars when she lost her grip and fell about seven feet onto her head.
Nine-year old Malek Farhan had been playing nearby and saw when Reem lost consciousness.
"I saw her eyes just, go…her right eye go left but her left eye go right," remembered Farhan.
The boy quickly remembered something his parents taught him.
"They teach me if somebody's about to faint or fainted you blow him in the face or in the mouth," said Farhan.
The trick worked. If Reem had broken her neck, moving her could have been fatal, so blowing in her face was exactly the right thing to do.
"That quick thinking was just awesome. That he knew what to do right away," said Arleen Luna, the health office assistant at the school.
The school's medical assistant happens to know Alameda's Mayor. On Tuesday, she presented Farhan with a certificate of awesomeness, which really impressed him.
"It's like, she's a manager," said Farhan. "She's like a manger of the United States, like, she's a BIG thing!"