Skyler Clark is a 7-year-old second-grader at North Pointe Elementary in Southgate. Christina McIver is her bus driver. No one could’ve foreseen how their lives would intertwine on the afternoon of Friday, April 12.
McIver pulled up to Skyler’s bus stop at Wesley and Burns streets. The little girl’s mom, Christina Clark, waited for her across the street. According to McIver, this was unusual, but the weather that day was rainy and unpleasant.
Skyler had to cross the street to reach her mother. After only walking five feet from the bus, the child stopped while her mother encouraged her to cross the street.
The three children dropped off at that corner don’t like crossing at that intersection, McIver said because drivers don’t always make full stops.
“I tell Skyler each day before she gets off my bus that we’re going to cross the street as a group,” she said. “I’ll drive the bus as they’re crossing so that no oncoming traffic [on Burns] can’t get between me and them and hit them.”
But on this day, Skyler wouldn’t cross the street.
“She (Skyler) faced me. Skyler was looking from me to her mom like she was in a daze,” McIver said.
The child seemed fine only moments before when exiting the bus and her actions perplexed the women.
“A whole other Skyler was standing there than the chatty little girl I had just spoken with,” McIver said.
Skyler’s mother panicked and froze as noticed her daughter was choking.
“My training kicked in,” McIver said. “I ran right over to her, checked her throat, checked her airway, and gave her the Heimlich. It was the craziest thing. I’m still in shock over it to be honest,” she admitted, her voice thick with emotion as she described clearing the congestion from Skyler’s lungs.”
Video of the incident revealed it all transpired in only 48 seconds.
“I still had 30 kids on my bus that I had to get home. I hugged her mom and her, talked with Skyler to be sure she was good, jumped back on the bus and continued my route like nothing had happened,” McIver said.
In her two years of working as a bus driver, the Southgate resident admitted the incident was frightening. She couldn’t process what happened immediately because of the other children in her care. She spoke of how they saw everything.
“They were all to one side staring out the windows. And they were very scared because they saw their friend in distress. They were confused too because they don’t usually see me jump from my seat and run to a child,” she said.
McIver credits a brave fourth grader for comforting the crying children until she retook her seat behind the wheel.
“She was amazing,” she said about the little girl, “once I had calmed down, I was able to explain what happened.”
McIver received confirmation from school officials soon after that Skyler was doing all right.
“I was able to let all the kids who were still on the bus know that Skyler was fine. Miss Christina just had to do that to help her. I don’t think they realized in that moment I had saved her life,” she said about the little girl who was foaming at the mouth less than an hour earlier.
She doesn’t like to think about what could’ve happened if she hadn’t received training. Skyler’s seventh birthday was celebrated on April 18.
“If I wouldn’t have been able to do that, if it was anybody else, could they have done what I did? Would she have made it to her birthday?” she said.
Dean Transportation Supervisor, Toni Thomas, beemed when speaking of McIver’s actions.
“We’re so proud of her. We prepare our drivers with several health and first-aid training courses in the hopes they’ll never have to use them,” she said.
McIver’s employer offers both first-aid and CPR training to its drivers. It takes 44 days to train a new driver. Dean Transportation’s drivers receive 150 hours of life-saving skills training where they become certified in CPR. They take a refresher course every two years. A report published by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that 55% of employees can’t get first-aid, CPR and AED training. And when training is offered, it’s either first aid or CPR, not both.
North Pointe elementary School Principal, Danielle Jozwiakd learned of the incident later that afternoon when Skyler’s mom texted her from the hospital. She was communicating with her late into the evening until Skyler came home.
She lavished praise upon McIver and her quick response: “Every day, she treats the kids like her own. She went above and beyond. Even with Skyler’s mom there, she took charge, she said. “I think she’s a definition of selflessness and heroism. This is one example of the kinship and protection that describes our school community.”
On Tuesday, April 23, the Southgate Board of Education presented McIver, a Southgate school’s alumni with a plaque and Titan award for her heroism.
