Dempsey Plant Manager Saves Choking Victim

A Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply manager recently was attending a community association dinner at The Meadows restaurant when a woman started choking.  

Kenny Altenbach noticed the woman was unable to breathe and he performed the Heimlich Maneuver. After a few thrusts, a large piece of food came loose from the woman’s throat and she began to breathe normally.

“I always wondered how I would react to something like that. It was strictly instinct,” Altenbach said in an interview with local news media. Altenbach credits the lifesaving training he received as a 17-year old ambulance volunteer in New Jersey. 

Altenbach, plant manager for Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply in Sunbury, PA, has a history of serving his community, including volunteer work for the Danville Area Community Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Susquehanna Valley. He also is active in industry and association affairs and is a graduate of TRSA's Executive Management Institute, the Production Management Institute and the Maintenance Management Institute.

Altenbach was honored by the Montour County commissioners for saving the woman’s life.