A Harrison Township server is being called a hero after she dropped her order pad, stepped in and saved a young boy who was choking at one of her tables at George’s Family Restaurant — performing the Heimlich maneuver for the first time in her life, WDTN reported.
The scare happened last weekend at the family restaurant in Harrison Township, in the Dayton area of Montgomery County. When the boy’s mother started yelling for help, server Victoria Slivinski tossed her notebook aside and went to work, according to WDTN. It took several pushes to dislodge the food before the boy finally coughed.
“She stopped what she was doing, did the Heimlich on the kid probably five or six times, and it was over. And then she went right back to work,” co-owner Steve Socrates told 2 NEWS. “It’s remarkable to have somebody like her in a restaurant. We’re really proud of her.”
Slivinski told WDTN she learned the Heimlich maneuver and CPR when she was a freshman in high school, and in the moment she also recalled something her grandmother taught her as a child: “You’ve got to help when you can,” she told WDTN.
A second Dayton outlet, WKEF, also reported the rescue, saying a server and manager at the restaurant helped the choking boy — a small reminder of how many hands move toward trouble in a crowded dining room, even when one person’s training carries the day.
The restaurant’s last update, shared with WDTN, was the one everyone wanted: the boy is doing well, though a bit shaken up. Slivinski, for her part, went straight back to her tables once it was over — and carried the worry with her afterward.
“I’m glad that he’s okay. That’s all that matters to me,” Slivinski told WDTN. “I was so worried about him afterwards. You know, it was on my mind. I’m glad that he pulled through, and I hope that they keep coming back.”
It’s Good News Ohio in the truest sense: a high school first-aid lesson, remembered years later at exactly the right second, and a family dinner that ended with everyone going home. George’s Family Restaurant says it is proud of its server — and a Harrison Township family has every reason to agree.
Photo: David Wilson, CC BY