Kory Taylor, the general manager of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Selma, was in the right place at the right time Tuesday when a man started choking in the restaurant on a piece of food.

Thanks to a CPR class he took in college, Taylor saved the man’s life by using the Heimlich maneuver.

What Taylor did was a tremendous thing, and he deserves a lot of credit for taking action. Seeing someone choking can be a scary situation, and without the proper training, some people wouldn’t have known what to do.

While Taylor’s actions may seem small, they may have saved the man’s life.

According to the National Safety Council, choking is the fourth leading cause of unintentional death. Choking can cause coughing fits in some cases, but it can also be deadly in other instances where food or something else is completely blocking an airway.

Taylor may not be a hero in his own eyes, but he is surely a hero to some.

Choking or seeing someone choke can be frightening, especially if someone doesn’t know what to do.

According to the National Safety Council, when someone is choking, 9-1-1 should be called immediately. Encourage the person to keep coughing to try to clear the object. If the person is responsive but cannot breath or speak, the Heimlich maneuver should be performed to prevent suffocation. If the person is unresponsive, perform CPR.

These are just a few tips that could go a long way in saving someone’s life one day.

There are several places that teach classes about the Heimlich maneuver and CPR in Selma, and we encourage everyone to at least get some knowledge on the two procedures.

The Selma and Dallas County Public Library offers CPR classes yearly, and the YMCA also offers training during their babysitting classes and other classes.