Debbie Lockey is not only a community hero, but a lifesaver. Yesterday, the Bossier Chamber of Commerce honored the Plain Dealing High school bus operator with a Salute to Community Heroes award for her quick thinking and heroic actions when a little girl on her school bus began choking on a quarter earlier this year.

Mrs. Lockey pulled the bus over on a rural road and immediately performed the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging the quarter that was obstructing the kindergartener’s airway. In her 35 years with Bossier Schools, the veteran driver said she has never had to administer lifesaving procedures before. She encourages everyone to learn first aid because “you never know when it’s you who has to jump into action to save a life.”

Bossier Schools congratulates and thanks Debbie Lockey for being a lifesaver and Community Hero.