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Nervous mothers, mostly Chicana, sat holding their children in the crowded waiting room of the Mendes Charity Health Clinic. The kids were infants and toddlers. The healthier ones were fidgeting and vocalizing their distress, ranging from whimpers to screams. The still, quiet ones were likely to be seriously ill.
Unnoticed by its teenage mother who had a squirming infant in her arms, a one-year-old rooted in her open purse to find a stick pen, the kind with a removable cap.
Seconds later, the kid was choking, and his mother was yelling, “My boy can’t breathe!”
Dr. Keiko Tamura raced out of the examining room, closely followed by her assistant. Sending Marco to call 911, she shoved the other kids on the bench over, picked up the choking boy and rested him face-down on her forearm, sup
