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Students at Cleburne (Independent School District) are now protected against choking.

The CISD board of trustees received a donation of LifeVAc kits from Pinnacle Bank during Monday night’s meeting.

CISD Lead Nurse Christi Gregory said each campus will now have a life saving kit, which includes three LifeVacs and a practice device to keep students from choking.

Pinnacle Regional President Tim Whitlock, Branch President Amber Witte and the founder/CEO of LifeVac, Arthur Lih, were present at the meeting to give the donation.

“What Mr. Whitlock has done is he challenged all Pinnacle Banks in Texas to purchase these LifeVac machines or devices for their school districts,” Gregory said. “He has made that challenge so maybe other community people will do that and all Texas schools will have this life saving device.”

(The) Musso family is working to raise money to make sure that every ambulance company, school, day care center and police car in the region has a life-saving device known as a LifeVac.

...Ms. Musso created a GoFundMe page in memory of her husband of 30-plus years and is using the money to purchase the airway clearance devices, then donating them to schools from William Floyd - - which serves the contiguous communities of Shirley, Mastic, Mastic Beach, and Moriches -- to the Montauk School.

...Schools in Montauk, Southampton, Tuckahoe, East Quogue, East Hampton and Hampton Bays have already received them, she said.

...“We are grateful to Laura and her son, Dylan, for their donation of three LifeVac systems for our cafeteria,” Superintendent of Schools Lars Clemensen said. “Out of a crisis comes an opportunity. And the service that Laura and Dylan are giving to the region as a result of their own experiences will help make us all safer in our schools.”

Ms. Musso also wants to make sure area fire departments and police departments have the devices.

She recently spoke to Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki, whom she said was “absolutely wonderful.”

...“The Southampton Town Police Department applauds Laura Musso’s efforts to see that all first responders are trained and equipped to clear an obstructed airway as quickly as possible,” Chief Skrynecki said on Friday...We are researching the product and anticipate incorporating it into the first aid equipment available to our officers in the field.”

Last summer, Quade Glenn was sucking on a Lemonhead hard candy when it lodged in his throat. His face turned red. He couldn’t breathe. His mother, Jennifer Glenn, was in another room but heard her daughter asking Quade if he was OK. The mother of three kids knew what to do. Her father taught CPR for years as a firefighter in Kennedale, and Jennifer was trained long ago.

This time, however, back blows and abdominal thrusts didn’t work on 5-year-old Quade. A desperate Jennifer tried Plan C –– a LifeVac device.

Jennifer had purchased the LifeVac more than a year earlier but had never used it.

...Last week, Jennifer, husband Blake Glenn, and their children invited me into their home and explained how everything went down that day.

...Around that time, Jennifer received a call from someone she knew at the Cleburne Times-Review telling her that “some weird guy” had contacted the paper to say LifeVac might have paid Jennifer to make her claims.

The man’s name was Peter Heimlich.

...In January, I began corresponding with Peter Heimlich after an article in the Cleburne Times-Review described how Pinnacle donated the LifeVacs (to area schools).

Last summer, Quade was sucking on a Lemonhead hard candy when it lodged in his throat. His face turned red. He couldn’t breathe. His mother, Jennifer, was in another room but heard her daughter asking Quade if he was OK.

...Jennifer - who asked that the family’s last name be withheld for security reasons...[See videos and graphics below in which Ms. Glenn and LifeVac freely use her and her son's complete name.]

...Last week, Jennifer, her husband, and their children invited me into their home and explained how everything went down that day.

...She wanted to share the incident on Facebook, but her husband was apprehensive. He isn’t a fan of social media.

“He didn’t understand why I felt the need to share it,” Jennifer said. “I’m like, ‘Babe, if our story could help somebody else in that same situation, when they can’t get [stuck food] out, I would feel so good about that.’ As a mom, I want to know what’s good –– the best car seat, whatever.”

He agreed. The post went up. Jennifer couldn’t believe the response.

“It kind of went viral,” she said. “It went crazy.”

Her Facebook page is private, and friends asked if they could share the post on their public pages. Jennifer agreed after removing Quade’s photo. [See videos and graphics below in which Ms. Glenn and LifeVac LLC display Quade's photo]

 Around that time, Jennifer received a call from someone she knew at a local paper.

...In January, I began corresponding with Peter Heimlich after an article in a Cleburne paper described how Pinnacle donated the LifeVacs.

(5:45) Ms. Glenn says she first learned about the LifeVac while doing research to show "Blake, my husband. And a LifeVac ad popped up...I'm a researcher. I research everything before I buy anything."

(6:45) After describing how she purchased a LifeVac on Amazon, "When babysitters would come over, I'd be like, "Oh, here's the LifeVac. Here are instrictions. If you need to use it, this is here if they choke on something and you can't get it out."

(9:00) After describing the choking incident (in which she says, "Everything came up"), Ms. Glenn says "All (her) kids witnessed it...Ever since then my mission has been to tell parents about LifeVac"

(10:20) Glenn: "(LifeVac) sent me a brand new unit since (Quade) had -- I know this is pretty gross for radio -- he had thrown up everything inside there. That shouldn't have happened, but."

(13:20) "It just happened at the end of July...I know my son Quade's story has been shared thousands of times on Facebook and it's because I took to Facebook the day it happened...I wanted to tell everyone about it."

(14:50 ) "I really think (purchasing the LifeVac) was a God thing. I really do. Because I went back and forth on buying it..Do I really need to spend $70-something dollars on this?...Then I thought about it. I'm like, You know, even if it sit sits there and collects dust, it's the security of knowing that I have it. I can take it with me. And I do. I have a travel unit now in my car."

(17:00) "I'd recommend everybody to go to (LifeVac's) website)...You can read all the peer-reviewed journals. That's important to me...You can watch the cadaver videos. They did a lot of cadaver testing because, you know, when you think about something like this it's an emergency situation, you cannot, like, re-enact that. It's unethical, too."

(18:00) After providing directions how viewers/listeners may purchase a LifeVac, Ms. Glenn says, "I definitely think that needs to be a stocking stuffer"

(18:30) "(This week LifeVac representatives flew here and) got to meet Quade."

(19:45) "Everybody needs (a LifeVac), definitely...anybody in nursing home care, their day cares...(Pinnacle Bank's) mission now is to try to get these in all school districts with Pinnacle Banks. They're going to try to fund them so that every school can have them."

(21:30) "We are just spreading through Johnson County (schools) and beyond...(LifeVacs) should be like epi pens, it should be like defibrillators, they should be there...Of course, all of our friends have bought them. We've given them to our grandparents who watch our children. We've gifted them to chuch. So you've got to think about all the places where your kids spend time." 

(1:00 ) Jennifer Glenn: "The first time I put (the LifeVac on my son Quade), he pushed it away. I think it scared him, the suction. But the second time I got in and got it out, he sat up and threw up everything, including the candy and the chips and everything he'd eaten that day. [Emphasis added.]