Maks superhero. 5th-grader saves a woman suffering from hypothermia

On Saturday, a parent of one of Jaworze primary school students sent a photo of a boy standing at a bus stop to school director Barbara Szermańska. "He asked me if I knew who he was," the director says. She posted the photo on her Facebook profile and five minutes later she already knew the answer.

It turned out it was Maksymilian Szoblik, a 5th-grade student Szermańska teaches Polish to. "The father of his schoolmate did not recognise him. He told me that he was impressed with the way the boy helped the woman in hypothermia on Saturday," the teacher said.

"That day Maks returned home glad that he saved someone's life. The parademics from the ambulance told him that if that lady sat there half an hour longer, she would have died," says Łukasz Szoblik, Maks's father.

On Saturday around noon, Maks was going home after football practice. At a bus stop next to the primary school, he spotted a woman sitting with her head down. He came closer to her, when parents of his schoolmate saw him and stopped their car. They were the first to tell the school director what happened.

"The father had a thermal blanket and covered the woman. He was impressed when Maks said that you need to shake such persons and speak loud and clear to them. The boy explained he learned it at school. They had first-aid at a technology class," Barbara Szermańska says. "The friend's mom, in turn, emphasised Maks's empathy. He noticed the woman had soaked shoes. There was no communication with her, she had cold hands. Maks decided to stay with the woman until the ambulance arrived, he held the blanket," she added.

Meanwhile, a woman was walking her dog next to the bus stop. "A woman with a dog walked past the bus stop. Maks asked her if she knew the woman at the bus stop. She only said with a snap that the woman was probably drunk. I'm glad he didn't follow her example," the teacher says.

Barbara Szermańska decided to buy Maks an apple pie, and she introduced a new term to students at a Polish lesson: altruism. She also played them a video by the Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue on how to provide help in the mountains in winter conditions. The kids were familiar with the topic as Jaworze is located at the foot of Błatnia peak in the Silesian Beskids range, a summit they often reach with their parents, also in winter.

They also discussed the degrees of hypothermia, that in case of uncontrolled shivering of muscles we at first should cross hands like we wanted to hug ourselves, and that at this point we should already call for help because in the next stage we lose our orientation, and later consciousness.

"Maks shared his experience from Saturday with other students and it sparked their memories of similar situations. One of the boys told about his drunk neighbour whom they had once helped. And the son of the man who stopped the car on Saturday said that his dad always carries a thermal blanket with him as it doesn't take much space," the school director added.

Maks has been also rewarded by the mayor of Jaworze.

Jaworze Municipal Office praised Maks in a Facebook post. "Maksymilian Szoblik has proved that you can become a superhero while coming back from football practice".

Local authorities also said they were proud of the young resident of Jaworze "who seeing an unconscious woman at a bus stop did not stay indifferent and reacted in the right way saving her life!". "Congratulations for courage! Maksymilian you are our hero!".