Dr. Henry Heimlich, 96, performs lifesaving technique he invented for the FIRST TIME when a woman chokes on her hamburger in the seat beside him

  • Heimlich was sitting at a communal dining table at Cincinnati's Deupree House, and noticed Patty Ris, 87, in distress
  • He dashed out of his seat, put his arms around her and pressed on her abdomen below the rib cage, following his own instructions
  • 'After three compressions, this piece of meat came out, and she just started breathing, her whole face changed,' Heimlich said  

By Reuters and Zoe Szathmary For Dailymail.com

Published: 11:13 EST, 27 May 2016 | Updated: 08:04 EST, 28 May 2016

Dr Henry Heimlich, the 96-year-old Cincinnati surgeon credited with inventing the lifesaving technique named after him, used it for the first time this week to save a fellow senior center resident who was choking on a hamburger.

Heimlich, who in multiple national television appearances had demonstrated the Heimlich Maneuver to dislodge food from an airway, had never employed it in an emergency, said center spokesman Ken Paley on Friday.

Heimlich was sitting at a communal dining table at Cincinnati's Deupree House, an upscale senior living center where he lives, on Monday and noticed fellow resident Patty Ris, 87, in distress while eating an open-faced hamburger.

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Dr Henry Heimlich is seen seated with his son Phil standing
Patti Ris (pictured) had choked on a hamburger

Dr Henry Heimlich (seen left seated with his son Phil standing), who is credited with inventing the lifesaving technique named after him, used it for the first time this week to save a fellow senior center resident, Patti Ris (right) who was choking on a hamburger

He dashed out of his seat, put his arms around her and pressed on her abdomen below the rib cage, following his own instructions.  

'After three compressions, this piece of meat came out, and she just started breathing, her whole face changed,' Heimlich said in a video interview shared by Paley, vice president of marketing for Episcopal Retirement Services, which operates Deupree House.

'I sort of felt wonderful about it, just having saved that girl,' Heimlich said. 

'I knew it was working all over the world. I just felt a satisfaction,' said Heimlich, who has lived in the 120-apartment complex for six years and swims regularly for exercise.

He told The Cincinnati Enquirer: 'When I used it, and she recovered quickly, it made me appreciate how wonderful it has been to to be able to save all those lives.' 

Heimlich is seen demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver on Johnny Carson in 1979

Heimlich is seen demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver on Johnny Carson in 1979

Phil Heimlich is the surgeon's son and told the newspaper: 'Just the fact that a 96-year-old man could perform that, is impressive.'

Ris said she randomly selected the seat in the dining room on Monday because she is a new resident at Deupree.

'When I wrote my 'thank you' note to him for saving my life, I said, "God put me in that seat next to you, Dr. Heimlich, because I was gone, I couldn't breathe at all,"' Ris said in another video interview shared by Paley.  

Heimlich's instructions are displayed on posters required to be displayed in most restaurants in the United States, although some laws have been discontinued. 

Dining room maître d’ Perry Gaines performed the Heimlich maneuver two times in the past and said a staffer would usually perform the lifesaving technique, The Cincinatti Enquirer reported.

Gaines told the newspaper: 'But, it it is Dr Heimlich.'

Heimlich was sitting at a communal dining table at Cincinnati's Deupree House, an upscale senior living center where he lives, and noticed fellow resident Patty Ris, 87, in distress while eating an open-faced hamburger

Heimlich was sitting at a communal dining table at Cincinnati's Deupree House, an upscale senior living center where he lives, and noticed fellow resident Patty Ris, 87, in distress while eating an open-faced hamburger

 

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