Student aids in campus rescues

By Amanda Carney
Online Editor

As a society, we often rely on the kindness of people’s hearts to make it through our day-to-day routines. Whether this is letting someone in 5 o’clock traffic, just giving someone a smile to brighten their day, or even giving someone the Heimlich maneuver.

This is exactly what Hutchinson Community College student, Colten Liby did. Not only did Liby save someone from choking by giving them the Heimlich maneuver, he also helped someone who was hit by car on Plum Street.

One night, Liby was headed to the gym, when he saw a girl in the fetal position next to car with the door open. He was quick to park his car and go over and help. Liby immediately called 911, and told the girl not to move. Liby then waited for emergency teams to respond.

“I was afraid to move the girl in case of any internal injuries. I told her stay where she was and wait,” Liby said.

On another occasion, Liby was eating dinner at the HutchCC dining hall when Liby’s friend started hitting him and pointed to his neck. Liby realized that his friend was choking on a piece of food. He was the quick one to respond once again. Liby jumped behind his friend and started doing the Heimlich, saving his friend’s life.

“I’m here to become a firefighter, I feel called to help and you just gotta be able to get the job done as fast as you can,” Liby said. “If you don’t react quickly, you lose valuable time.”

Liby is a sophomore at HutchCC but from Abilene. He is in the fire science program, and he has known how to do CPR since his freshman year in high school, but has never had to use CPR before. Liby learned the Heimlich maneuver from boy scouts.

These events definitely seem out of the norm for an everyday college student, but Liby doesn’t feel the need to draw any attention to these events.

“These events could happen to anyone at any time,” he said. “But, I know that these events are definitely not ordinary.”

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