LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office now has access to a new anti-choking tool that could determine the difference between a life and death emergency.<\/p>\n
The Cassata Foundation donated \u201cLifeVac\u201d anti-choking devices to the sheriff\u2019s office this week, equipping deputies with a suction-based tool designed to remove airway obstructions when traditional methods, like back blows or the Heimlich maneuver, don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Carmine Marceno called the donation a \u201chuge win for Lee County,\u201d saying every second matters when someone is not breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this tool, we\u2019re able to immediately suction the object right out of the person\u2019s mouth,\u201d Marceno said. \u201cEvery life saved is a real win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s office plans to strategically place the devices, primarily in patrol vehicles, so deputies can quickly access them during emergency calls. Some may also be placed in headquarters and other facilities.<\/p>\n
LifeVac representatives say the device has helped save more than 5,000 lives nationwide, including thousands of children. The device is placed over the mouth and nose and uses a simple push-and-pull motion to create suction and remove the obstruction.<\/p>\n
For one Cape Coral father, that simple motion made all the difference.<\/p>\n
Raymond Priebe says he used a LifeVac to save his 3-year-old daughter, Maya, after she began choking while the family was driving home from a birthday party in October 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cA parent\u2019s worst nightmare is hearing, \u2018She\u2019s not breathing,\u2019\u201d Priebe said.<\/p>\n
He immediately pulled the car over and tried back blows, but nothing worked. He says his daughter began losing consciousness and turning blue.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife grabbed the LifeVac, I lay her in the grass, push, pull, done. She was crying,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Priebe believes the outcome would have been very different without the device.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would\u2019ve been a different outcome. I have no doubt about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He now keeps multiple LifeVac devices in both cars and at home and says he encourages other parents to consider having one on hand.<\/p>\n
Foundation leaders say their goal is to continue donating the devices to first responders, schools, and community organizations throughout Southwest Florida and beyond, hoping to prevent choking deaths before first responders even arrive.<\/p>\n
As deputies begin carrying the devices in Lee County, leaders say they hope the added tool will give families one more layer of protection when seconds matter most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office now has access to a new anti-choking tool that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[79504,209,211,210,79505,79503,28,356,2094,4187,1521],"class_list":{"0":"post-167369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-anti-choking-devices","9":"tag-cape-coral","10":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","11":"tag-cape-coral-news","12":"tag-cassata-foundation","13":"tag-first-aid","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-lee-county","16":"tag-lee-county-sheriffs-office","17":"tag-sheriffs-office","18":"tag-southwest-florida"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}