Story highlights Dr. Henry Heimlich was in the dining hall of a senior community when the woman beside him began choking on her hamburger

He came up with the Heimlich maneuver in 1974

(CNN) Dr. Henry Heimlich reached his arms around the gagging woman's body and did what he does best: grasped his left fist in his right hand and thrusted quickly and upward.

It was 1974 when he created the lifesaving maneuver and the American Medical Association gave it his name. On Monday -- at age 96 -- he got to use his own maneuver on someone who was choking.

Heimlich was eating a steak in the dining room of the Deupree House, a senior living community in Cincinnati, Ohio, when he noticed the woman next to him start to choke.

"She had all the signs of it because, as I say, her lips were puffed out, and she obviously wasn't breathing," Heimlich said.

So, he sprang into action.

Read More