Illustrated First Aid Guide - Marcia Wendorf [12]
Signs of choking include:
• The victim clutches their throat
• Is unable to talk
• Breathes noisily or has difficulty breathing
• Is unable to cough forcefully
• Victim’s skin, lips and nails turn blue or dusky
• Victim loses consciousness
Treatment:
1. If you are the only rescuer, perform the back blows and abdominal thrusts before calling 911.
2. Pound five times between the victim’s shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.
3. Perform five abdominal thrusts known as the Heimlich maneuver.
4. Alternate between five back blows and five abdominal thrusts until the blockage is dislodged.
5. If the choking victim is unconscious, lower them to the floor, open their mouth, and look into their throat to see if there’s a visible blockage.
6. Reach a finger into their throat and sweep out the cause of the blockage. Note: Be careful not to push the obstruction further into the airway; this can happen easily with young children.
7. Begin CPR. The chest compressions used in CPR may dislodge the object. Recheck the mouth periodically.
Treatment For a Child Younger Than 1:
1. Sit down, rest your forearm on your thigh and place the infant face down over your forearm.
2. Using the heel of your hand, thump the infant firmly five times on the middle of their back. The combination of gravity and the back blows should release the obstruction.
3. If the obstruction doesn’t come out, turn the infant face up over your forearm, making sure their head is lower than their trunk.
4. Place two fingers at the center of the infant’s breastbone, and give five quick chest compressions. For children older than age 1, use abdominal thrusts only.
5. Repeat the back blows and chest compressions.
6. If the obstruction is removed, but the infant doesn’t resume breathing, perform infant CPR.
CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation)
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a lifesaving technique used when someone’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. A combination of chest compression and mouth-to-mouth breathing keeps oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other vital organs until additional medical treatment can restore a normal heart rhythm.
Time is critical when the heart or breathing stops. The absence of oxygenated blood can cause irreparable brain damage in only a few minutes, and death will occur within eight to 10 minutes. To determine whether a person is breathing, look for chest motion, listen for breath sounds, and feel for the person’s breath on your cheek and ear. Gasping is not considered to be normal breathing.
If the person isn’t breathing normally and you are trained in CPR, begin mouth-to-mouth breathing. If you believe the person is unconscious from a heart attack and you haven’t been trained in emergency procedures, skip mouth-to-mouth breathing and proceed directly to chest compression.
To learn CPR properly, take an accredited first-aid training course, that includes CPR and how to use an automatic external defibrillator (AED).
If more than one person is assisting a victim, have one of them immediately call 911, while the other begins CPR. If you are alone, begin CPR for one minute then call 911. If an AED is available, deliver one shock as advised by the device, then begin CPR.
Treatment:
Resuscitate a victim according to the ABCs - Airway, Breathing and Circulation.
Airway - Clear the airway:
1. Place the person on his or her back on a firm surface such as the floor.
2. Kneel next to the person’s neck and shoulders.
3. Open the person’s airway by tilting their head back and gently lifting their chin forward.
Breathing - Breathe for the person:
You can use either mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-nose breathing if the victim’s mouth is seriously injured or can’t be opened.
1. For mouth-to-mouth breathing, pinch the victim’s nostrils shut and cover their mouth with yours, making a seal.
2. Breathe into the victim’s mouth and watch to see if their chest rises. If it does rise, give a second breath. If it doesn’t rise, reposition