Bartender hailed as lifesaver

SANDPOINT — A bartender at Schweitzer Mountain Resort mixed equal parts of quick thinking and experience last weekend to help a wedding reception guest who was in danger of choking to death.

“I recognized something was going on in the crowd and I narrowed in and saw he was in trouble,” said Scott Victorson of Sandpoint.

Fellow partygoers saw the man was in distress and tried to administer the Heimlich maneuver, but they couldn’t get his airway clear.

Coworkers said Victorson vaulted over the bar, rushed over to the stricken partygoer and administered the abdominal thrust maneuver. They contend he saved the man’s life.

Tas Self, a woman who was tending bar with Victorson at the time of the Saturday incident, notified The Daily Bee of her co-worker’s life-saving actions.

“He was very humble about his good deed as a true hero always is,” Self said in an e-mail to the paper.

Victorson, a 33-year old who also teaches health and personal fitness at Northwest Academy in Naples, said he learned the technique as a lifeguard while growing up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He is also a wilderness first responder with emergency medical technician training.

Victorson said it’s the fourth time he’s had to apply the maneuver to a choking victim.

Victorson recalls body blocking one of the partygoers off the man’s back.

“He was really trying to help his friend. It just wasn’t working,” said Victorson.

After dislodging the misdirected morsel of food, the man regained his composure and was able to carry on with the evening’s celebration.

Victorson said he resumed his duties tending bar, returned home to his wife and had a beer.

Since the incident, Victorson has gotten to know the man he helped save and considers him a friend.

“I got a chance to reunite, hang out, catch up and talk about the experience,” said Victorson.