Your Child is Choking! Do you know what to do?May 10 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line First Aid is a necessary for everyone, you never know when you will come across an emergency situation.
Ten years ago I became pregnant with my first child. Like allot of anxious mothers I spent the next nine months decorating the nursery, buying adorable outfits and reading every pregnancy book I could get my hands on. One of the things I had not thought much about was, am I really prepared? Would I know what to in an emergency? What if it was life threatening would I have the knowledge to save my child's life? The thought of this haunted me, and answers were a resounding NO. Speaking with my husband we decided to call our local chapter of the Red Cross and sign up for Community Infant/Child/Adult CPR classes and First Aid training. During our couple days of classes we learned allot of useful information that I will share with you. The Heimlich maneuver CPR Rescue Breathing The ABC's of handling an emergency The three C's of First Aid How to supply your First Aid Box The Good Samaritan Laws This is just a small sample of the vast wealth of knowledge and training you will receive. Briefly I wanted to touch base on all of the above training areas. The Heimlich Maneuver, which is world, recognized life saving measure, helps to unlodge food or foreign objects that me lodged in the throat. During class you will receive the right techniques to apply to an adult and an infant. It is crucial that you know there are different applications of this procedure depending upon the person's age, such as adult versus infant. CPR is also a world-recognized life saving measure, use CPR on a patient who is not breathing and does not have a pulse. Using CPR not only allows Oxygen into the body but also helps to move oxygenated blood through the body by pumping the heart. As with this procedure you need to be educated as the size of the person seriously affects which method of CPR you will use. Rescue Breathing is an important life saving technique. Use Rescue Breathing on a patient if you can find a pulse but do not see or feel breathing. This will supply the victim with much needed oxygen. The ABC's of handling an emergency situation. This is probably one of the most important things you will learn in class. A=Airway. First thing you need to do is to check to see if the patient is breathing if NOT then you need to check the airway to see if you need to reposition the head. Also there may be a foreign body obstruction in the airway that is not allowing air to flow freely. B=Breathing. Once you have determined that the patient is not breathing you will need to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or rescue breathing. By doing this you allow oxygen a vital life saving component back into the victim's body. C=Circulation. When performing CPR you will periodically need to check the victim for a pulse or check their circulation. This should also be one of the first things you do when you arrive on the scene and examine a patient. The 3 C's of First Aid. Check: This is the very first thing you should upon arriving on the scene of an emergency. Check to make sure the area is safe for you to enter, for example down electrical lines, or fire to name a few. After you have accessed the scene is safe you need to move to check the patient. You will want to check for Circulation, Breathing and any visible signs of injury. If upon checking the scene you find it is unsafe you need to immediately go to the next C in care. Call: After you have checked the scene you need either designate someone to call 911 for you, or quickly leave the scene to call 911 yourselves. If you designate someone to call 911, make sure you instruct the person to return back to the scene and let you know what the operator said. By doing this you are assured that the person did indeed call 911 for you. Care: Now we have checked the scene and called for back up now it is time to perform the last C Care. Using you’re training access the situation and decide what form of treatment you can perform. Supplying your First Aid Box: It is essential that you are prepared for any emergency part of being prepared is having a fully stocked first aid box. Here is listing of things you should have in your box. Tweezers Gauze Pads Tylenol Antibiotic cream Burn cream standard band aides alcohol pads cling wrap dressing gloves ice pack saline solution thermometer ipecac syrup first aid Manuel poison control numbers and emergency numbers scissors non stick pads As a Daycare Operator and a mother I highly recommend that you keep a first aid box at home in a easily accessible spot for everyone. Also it is a good idea to have a back up first aid box in the trunk of your car. First Aid training has truly helped me to feel more confident in my training. Once every two years I retrain and recertify myself in first aid. A year ago, while caring for the children in my home daycare I had to put my training to the test. One of my little boys (14 months old) had come to daycare as he normally did. But on this day unknown to me his older brother had given him a dime in his pocket. During our movie time I saw him fiddling with his pocket but thought he was just trying to put his fingers in his pocket. A few minutes later I heard him start coughing, but the sound of this coughing let me know he had something in his mouth he should not. Rushing over I stood up the little boy, he was still breathing and coughing, so I just stood there and encouraged him to keep coughing. Hoping with each new cough he would dislodge the foreign object from his throat. Approximately a minute later the coughing stopped and it was obvious the object had moved farther down and was now obstructing airflow to his airway. Immediately I moved behind the toddler and began the upward thrusts. Five thrusts later the object the dime flew from his mouth and on to the floor. Now I am not going to kid you and say I was perfectly calm through this whole situation, but I will tell you I thank god everyday that I was trained enough to know what to do. Please do not think that just becaue you read my essay, and may have learned some valuable information that you are informed enough or qualified enough to perfom life saving techniques. First Aid and CPR classes are a must for you to be able to use the dummies to practice on, to get a hands on feel for what you will need to do in the event of an emergency. Even taking the classes and being informed you need to know what kind of treatments that you can perform legally without the worry of being sued. It is critical that you become qualified and ceritified before using any life saving techniques as described in my opinion.  |
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