Chariho lacrosse star takes lesson from saving a man's life this winter
RICHMOND — The nerves are always there.
Chaia Elwell feels them before every game she plays. It’s not from a lack of confidence — the senior is one of the state’s best lacrosse players and has helped the Chariho girls team become the early-season favorite in Division II. She’s more than prepared to do what needs to be done on the field. The second the opening draw takes place, they’re gone. It’s game time. No time to be scared. Just act.
It's that same mindset that helped Elwell save a man’s life.
On Jan. 18, Elwell started her day excited to try a new fast-food chicken restaurant in Rhode Island. She ended it by recognizing a potentially deadly situation, figuring out what needed to be done and and performing the Heimlich maneuver to save a 24-year-old man from choking to death.
“It was just instinct. I just happened to be there,” Elwell said. “It depends on what kind of person you are. I’m always the type who’s going to step up in a situation like that.”
Elwell has been stepping up in big situations on the field as a member of the Chariho girls lacrosse team throughout her high school career. The Chargers are having their best season since their move to Division II and also are in line for their fourth-straight winning season, something that hasn’t happened since they were in Division III.
Last year, Elwell and Chariho saw their playoff run end with a semifinal loss to eventual Division II champion North Kingstown. The Chargers have come back determined to win a title this spring and Elwell’s talent, toughness and leadership — all of which showed in a win against reigning Division II runner-up Burrillville on Monday — have put the team on a path to enjoy the program’s best season to date.
“There’s not a lot of pressure. My team this year really trusts each other,” Elwell said after scoring two goals in the 7-4 victopry over the Broncos that improved Chariho to 4-0. “We use each other as a support system; I know our seniors are really strong … and we just have to rely on each other and take it game-by-game.
“We all want to get to the finals, but we’re taking it one step at a time.”
If there is pressure, it’s clear Elwell will be able to handle it. She proved as much on that fateful Thursday afternoon. The day before, fast-food chicken restaurant Raising Cane’s had opened in Johnston to much fanfare. Elwell and some friends wanted to take the drive north to check it out. Her mother, Michele, wasn’t keen on a carful of girls making a 40-minute drive for chicken fingers and said she couldn’t go, but Elwell eventually persuaded her that it would be OK.
With drive-thru lines wrapping around the building, throughout the plaza and onto Atwood Avenue, and the girls wanting to see what the inside of the restaurant looked like, they decided to dine inside the restaurant.
Elwell had tried Raising Cane’s previously, so she was already prepared with her order — the 3 Finger Combo. It’s a standard order — three fried chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries and a drink. Elwell remembered loving the lemonade when she tasted it at a Boston location the previous month.
Sitting nearby was Anthony Reppucci, who was having an early dinner at the state’s newest fast-food restaurant. Suddenly, he started choking on his food.
No one in the dining area noticed, except for a small boy who dining nearby with his mother. Elwell heard the child say, “He’s choking,” as he pointed at Reppucci.
Elwell immediately sprung into action. This wasn’t someone trying to play the role of hero. She’s been training to be one for a while.
In sixth grade, Elwell learned CPR and first aid so she could babysit. On one of her first jobs, she panicked when the child she was watching put a bead in their mouth. Elwell tried to grab it out with her fingers but the child swallowed it.
The child was OK but Elwell remembers making a phone call, while crying, to explain the situation to the child’s mother. She told Elwell not to worry about it and everything would be fine. Elwell didn’t want to panic like that again.
When Elwell started at Chariho High School, she enrolled in the school’s Health Careers program, from which she learned life-saving measures such as the Heimlich maneuver.
When she saw the small boy at Raising Cane’s pointing and then noted Reppucci trying to grab the food out of his throat, Elwell didn’t panic. She acted.
She calmy walked up to Reppucci and asked if he was OK. He couldn’t verbalize a response and was just motioning toward his throat. Elwell noticed this lips were starting to turn purple and asked if he needed help. She knew he wasn’t going to be able to answer. She knew what she had to do and was more than ready to do it. It was game time.
“The only time I’m nervous in lacrosse is at the beginning of a game, and when the tone is set, I get used to it,” Elwell said. “I wasn’t nervous when I was giving the man the Heimlich. I was just making sure, in my head, I was doing it right and making sure I could give him good care.”
Elwell stood Reppucci up and prepared to give him the Heimlich, then heard someone shout her name. Her food order was ready. She told them to wait, she was busy — and two thrusts later, by her own estimation, the lodged food came out of Reppucci’s mouth.
She sat him down and asked if he needed an ambulance. He balked but then said it might be a good idea. By then, a Raising Cane’s employee had already made the call.
Elwell’s job was done. After the ordeal, she grabbed her food to go but couldn’t eat. The scene was a bit messy and her stomach wasn’t up for it. The lemonade still hit the spot.
On her way home, Elwell called her mother to tell her what had happened. Her friends were making similar phone calls. The reaction was the same — confusion, followed by amazement. By the time she got home, Elwell still hadn’t processed what she had done.
“I kind of had to look back after and say, ‘Wow, that really happened.' It didn’t take long to do. It was one or two thrusts to get the food out of him, but it wasn’t like I wasn’t actively thinking about what I was doing.
“I just had to use my instincts.”
A high school student saving someone’s life isn’t the type of thing that goes unnoticed by the general public.
In the days that followed, Elwell received quite a bit of attention. The state’s television stations did stories on her and she was honored by Chariho High School and local government.
Raising Cane’s also acknowledged Elwell for her bravery, presenting her with a $10,000 scholarship and a card that gets allows her to get free chicken for a year.
The accolades were great, but Elwell’s greatest reward was reconnecting with Reppucci when he thanked her for saving his life. “He said, ‘I would have died if it weren’t for you.' He was turning cyanotic — he was a little bit purple around his lips. He definitely wasn’t getting any oxygen.
“I wasn’t thinking about that after, but after he brought it up, I was thinking, ‘Oh, yeah, his life was in my hands.’ ”
Elwell has returned to Raising Cane’s without incident. She jokes when she answers a question about any PTSD-like feelings going back to the restaurant or if she’s always on high alert when she goes to such places. She’s not looking for it — but she’s not trying not to look either.
At Chariho, Elwell and her teammates play lacrosse on the school’s main field that sits next to the Maddie Potts Memorial Field House. The building is named for Potts, who collapsed on the field and died after being stricken by a brain aneurysm during a game in her senior year in 2017.
“Everybody here knows that if there is a situation, you need to step up,” Elwell said. “Those first 10 minutes of any situation are the most crucial to saving someone’s life.”
If need be, Elwell will be prepared to do it again.
She’s excited for her spring lacrosse season, but just as excited for her EMT ride-alongs that are a part of her Health Careers program. Next fall, Elwell will attend Southern Connecticut State University and plans to study nursing with a career in health care to follow.
There will be nerves for all of it. That’s a part of life. Elwell knows that, with how she’s prepared for everything — lacrosse, school — she’ll be ready for it all. And when its game time, the nerves will disappear.
“I feel like it’s just in me at all times,” Elwell said. “Wherever I go, I’m ready to just jump into it. It’s almost like a switch flips in me.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Chariho lacrosse's Chaia Elwell saves man's life at Johnston restaurant
