When 12-year-old Auri Agramont enrolled in the McKinney Babysitters Club course earlier this month, she was fulfilling a preteen rite of passage.
“I wanted to babysit more kids, and I wanted to have an actual reason for them to trust me,” said Agramont.
On Nov. 2, Agramont attended the babysitting class put on by the McKinney Fire Department. The class is designed to equip people ages 11 to 16 with essential safety skills.
She took Stop the Bleed training and learned CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver. Just hours later, she used the maneuver to save her 8-year-old sister’s life.
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“She started coughing. I didn’t know she had a candy in her mouth. I said, ‘Are you OK?'" she said. “She bent down to do the motion to cough, but the air wouldn’t come out. And she did it again, and I got scared and said, ‘Suri, are you OK?’ And she didn’t answer.”
That’s when instinct kicked in.
On Tuesday, the McKinney City Council recognized Agramont for saving Suri’s life using the Heimlich Maneuver as she learned in the course.
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Her parents, Paula Branez and Bruno Agramont, watched on proudly.
They said it’s taken time for their daughter to process the gravity of her quick-thinking fully.
“There’s a reason why she went to that class that day, and I believe that God has a plan for us for everybody. All of a sudden, she was there at that moment and yeah, Suri’s fine,” said Branez.
They hope her story will inspire others to get trained even at a young age.
“It’s so important for parents to understand that the little thing you’re doing now could save anyone’s life,” said Bruno Agramont.
The Babysitters Club is free to attend. The next round of classes will begin next April.
