Heimlich maneuver nearly gets NBC’s crack meteorologist fired & then saves his life

Johnny Carson dubbed Frank Field “NBC’s crack meteorologist.” Field was a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show.” Carson even appeared unannounced on Field’s weather forecasts at NBC’s flagship station WNBC-TV in New York. This includes one time where Carson showed up with a snowball trying to scare Field into thinking his snow less forecast had busted. The episode displeased Field’s somewhat humorless bosses and almost shortened Field’s career at NBC. It wasn’t the only time one of Frank Field’s broadcasts threatened his job.

Dr. Frank Field, despite being the subject of many Johnny Carson monologue jokes, was and is a very serious guy. He did many shows on weather, science, medicine and even fire during a broadcasting career that began in 1958. Field contributed his expertise to “The Today Show” and many other broadcasts.

Shortly after STATter911.com began, I received the first of many phone calls from Frank Field. As he started to explain who he was and why he was calling, I interrupted to tell Frank that I’ve known about him since I was a little kid staying up late to watch “The Tonight Show.” I also knew exactly why he was calling. Frank Field was interested in the fire service and how firefighters educated the public — especially children — in fire safety and prevention.

Frank’s documentary at WCBS-TV, “Plan to Get Out Alive” was one of the resource materials I used for a fire safety series and documentary on WUSA-TV. In addition, Frank’s video series “Fire Is” remains among the best fire safety videos for older children I’ve seen. More than 500,000 families have taken the “Fire Is” course in New Jersey (when will one of the national fire service organizations finally recognize Frank for helping save many lives?). You can learn more about “Fire Is” and how it can work in your community, here.

Our first phone call probably lasted 90-minutes and the conversation continues today. Those talks have generated many stories from Frank about his career and the interesting people who have been a part of Frank’s 93 years. One of my favorites is about Dr. Henry Heimlich, the surgeon who created the Heimlich maneuver. When the first tweets came yesterday (Saturday) reporting Dr. Heimlich’s death at age 96 I immediately alerted Frank.

This brings us back to the other time Frank was almost fired by NBC. It revolves around Frank playing a big role in helping Henry Heimlich publicize the Heimlich maneuver and later Frank almost choking to death himself. Frank has been kind enough to share those stories with STATter911.com and explain how the Heimlich maneuver almost got him fired and then saved his life:

Dr. Henry Heimlich a thoracic surgeon who had appeared on my NBC weekly program Research Project called one day to describe a procedure he had developed. Each year 5,000 thousand Americans died from choking on food. Autopsies labeled such deaths as “Café coronary syndrome-fatal choking on food”. Dr Heimlich described his simple maneuver in a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association, copied me and asked if he could demonstrate it on the Live at Five news broadcast.

The result of that single appearance was astonishing. Within a month, we had saved nine lives and I became embroiled in a battle for several years. The American Red Cross went after Heimlich with a vengeance and I was part of the target. The president of NBC informed my news director that I was to cease the reports because his physician told him there had been no scientific studies of this maneuver in animals or humans. Orthopedic specialists wrote warning that the maneuver could result in bone fractures.

In an old WNBC-TV report, Dr. Frank Field tells about one of the first documented saves using the Heimlich maneuver. Frank says these two men donated $10,000 to help Dr. Heimlich promote the use of the Heimlich maneuver.

When I testified in Albany and NYC to support bills on signs in restaurants illustrating the maneuver, an NBC news executive warned me that news reporters were to take no part in politics. The restaurant association took strong issue with what I was doing and threatened the station.

At the same time, letters and calls continued to come in as lives were being saved. This led to more promotion on the local news and most importantly an introduction to the rest of the nation. “The Today Show” joined in the Heimlich maneuver story.

Did seven years of promoting the Heimlich maneuver pay off? For me it did. Not only did I receive a special Governors Award Emmy but it save my life. This was a news report fifteen years later. One cold December night Warner Wolfe, the WCBS sports reporter saved my life.