Hey, everyone, it's Rachel.

We're doing something a little different today.

We're going to take a pause this week from the culture specials that we've been sharing on Sundays,

because today, we wanted to share the first episode of a new series from our colleagues over at Serial.

It's called The Preventionist.

Like so many of their shows, it's a remarkable story.

This one is about a bunch of things, including

families navigating, surprising, and enormous challenges, and a public official who's trying to do

the right thing in a very complicated situation. It's really good. The episode we're sharing

today is the first of a three-part series, which you can find by searching The Preventionist

wherever you get your podcasts. And take note, the whole series is available for free for a limited time.

So binge away. Okay, so the Sunday special team will be back with the show next week,

and here is the first episode of the Preventionist.

One evening in August of 2023, I watched a woman step up to the mic during a meeting of

local government officials in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was young, early 20s,

strikingly pretty, wearing a pale pink blazer. She's short, five foot nothing, so she had to stand on her tiptoes to reach the microphone.

She had five minutes to convey, basically, any parent's nightmare. My two-month-old son was happily drinking milk from his bottle when he quickly started choking, turn blue, and went limp.

My boyfriend transported our son to the changing table as I grabbed an anti-choking device and my boyfriend

began assembling it. I never ran so fast up the stairs screaming at the top of my lungs for help.

She described the panic in the house, a baby not breathing. She and her boyfriend, the father of the child, lived with her parents.

Everyone was home when the baby started choking.

My father rushed downstairs and immediately started doing chest compressions as I dialed 911.

...