BIDDEFORD (AP) – A 7-year-old schoolgirl and the administrative assistant at Biddeford Primary School have been honored for quick-thinking responses that were credited with saving the life of the girl’s 47-year-old grandmother.

Acting in accordance with school policy, Carolyn Southwick telephoned the home of Kersten Martin-Brinkley at 9:15 a.m. last Thursday to find out why the girl failed to show up in school that morning.

Principal Joan Warren said Kersten herself answered the phone.

She was crying, Warren said, and told Southwick “she couldn’t wake up Nana.”

Southwick dialed 911, and told Kersten to hang up the phone and wait for a return call from the emergency dispatcher.

When help arrived, rescuers found Sawyer unconscious on the floor. Warren said the woman was clinically dead, but was able to be resuscitated and make a full recovery.

Warren recounted the story to the School Committee on Wednesday as she presented Biddeford Primary School Hero Awards to both Southwick and Kersten. The principal said the first-grader showed great presence of mind in helping emergency responders.

“I just can’t say enough about this little girl,” Warren said.

Sawyer said she had choked on a piece of toast and didn’t remember anything after that until she woke up at the hospital following an emergency tracheotomy.

“God works in strange ways,” she said. “It wasn’t my time.”