A cervical immobilizing device includes a pair of arms that can be folded to an upright position to engage and support a patient's head, an actuating device for folding the arms to the supporting position, and a locking device for locking the position of the arms in the folded supporting position. The actuating device is coupled to the outer ends of the arms for folding the arms to an upright position symmetrically and uniformly. In one embodiment, the actuator device is flexible member that passes around a guide to a position which can be gripped by the user. The locking device can be a cinching, ratcheting or clamping device, or a combination thereof, on the actuator device. In one embodiment, the folding arms include a coupling device for coupling the arms to a base in a sliding arrangement to enable the arms to slide along the base to a folded position. A blank is also disclosed that can be folded to form the cervical immobilizing device.