Scenario 1: 2 year old toddler chocking on apple piece in throat.
In August of 2005, my boys and I were in a local popular restaurant in Georgia. There was a couple sitting behind us with 3 young children, all under 6 years old. We placed our orders at the same time, with each of us ordering appetizers. Our appetizers came out first, almost at the same time. The family across in front of us ordered a fruit and cheese platter for the children. The mothers was cutting the apples into pieces for the 2 year old. I noticed that before the 2 year old could chew and swallow, the mother was putting more in his mouth. I remember that I jokingly turned around and said "slow down little man", his parents laughed and we just kept eating. About five minutes into our appetizer, I heard the 2 year old coughing and gaging, the mother screaming and yelling that he is chocking and she didn't know what to do. I jumped up out of my chair, instructed the waiter to call 911, as he was calling 911. I began the Heimlich Maneuver on the 2 year old.
As I am proceeding with the maneuver, I am trying to get the mother clam so that she can assist me with this process. I could not get the mother calm enough to help me so I turned to the dad, who was much calmer, I instructed him to stand in front of the child and make sure that he was conscious, I gently held the child in front of me and as though I was hugging him, as I am doing this I sightly bend my knees for support, all the while having the father watch the child's face. I gently put my fist above his stomach and began pushing at an angle, I repeated this step several times until the child's airway became clear. As I was doing the maneuver, the paramedics showed up just as the child began to cough and cry. This scenario taught me a very valuable lesson, which is you should always be prepared for an emergency. In order to understand how to prepare for an emergency, the person involved my first understand what constitutes as an emergency. Did this situation constitute as an emergency? Yes it did. Was the mother prepared for this emergency? No she wasn't. Let's talk about why the mother was not prepared. In this situation, the mother was concentrating on feeding the two smaller children, as she is feeding she is going from one child to the next, not giving the children time to chew and swallow before adding more food. Because the 2 year old did not have all of his teeth, it took longer form him to chew his food. I do not think that the mother was prepared because she did not understand that chocking is a major hazard in young children and you have to be careful of the size of food that you put in there mouth.When the child began chocking, she went into panic mood and did not know what to do. Learning first aid and CPR is very critical when you dealing with children.
Scenario 2: A 34yr old pregnant female, gets hit by lightning, drops, loses consciousness. When assessed initially, not breathing, weak pulse, then 5 mins into the scenario loses pulse. What am I going to do?
First I would stay clam and call 911, I would stay at the scene, give as much help as I can and reassure the victim. I would check the victim from top to bottom without moving her. Because she is unconscious, I would begin rescue breathing and continue this procedure until help arrives. Breathing emergencies are always life threatening. Regular breathing is effortless and comfortable, but when breathing becomes an effort or causes pain, this is an indicator that rescue breathing or CPR needs to be preformed. I believe that weather you are working with children or adults, everyone needs to learn First Aid and CPR.
No comments:
Post a Comment