Aug

27

PSA

August 27, 2004 |

Last night I had to go for my CPR re-certification for daycare. I have to re-license by Tuesday and of course CPR certification is one of the licensing requirements. Nothing like waiting until the last minute eh? LOL Anyway as we were going through the different emergency situations and their corresponding lifesaving techniques, specifically infant choking, one of the women mentioned that if not for being a Child Care Provider and required to take the class, she wouldn’t know most of this stuff to do with her own children.

And that made me stop and think. How many people that are home alone with their children each day would know what to do if their child/infant started choking on their food? If the child was found unconscious and not breathing, aside from calling 911, what would they do? Before required training I would have had no idea either.

These little beings we are with all day every day, most of the time alone, are the most precious gifts we have. For approximately $20 and a couple hours of your time you can learn how to try and save those little lives effectively if, god forbid, anything should ever happen.

Last year I had to put my skills to use when Lauren began choking during lunchtime. She was only about 9 months old and hadn’t been eating table food for very long. I sure thought everything was chopped up small enough. It wasn’t. I could see her panicked face and I could hear the piece of food getting sucked down with every breath she tried to take. I knew what was happening but thank god I knew the right thing to do. I picked her up, put her in the position for an infant choking victim and began the back blows. Fortunately with 3 blows the food became dislodged and flew out onto the floor. She cried, I cried and the rest of the kids just stared at us, not comprehending what had just happened.

I thank God I knew what to do and that it worked. I shudder to think what could have happened had I only called 911 or tried to sweep the food out and instead pushed it further down. Please, please, please, I urge every one of you, my blog friends, to go out there and get your training if you don’t have it already. Become certified in CPR. Re-certify if it’s been a long time. For very little money and time you will acquire the skills that may one day save the life of one of your children. You can find classes through your local Red Cross or many Rescue Squads offer classes also. Please call. It is so worth it.

If anyone has ever had a similar experience, where you had to put some of these types of skills to use, please post about it in the comments for everyone to read. Thank you. That is all.


Comments

7 Comments so far

  1. Shawn on August 27, 2004 4:10 pm

    When my daughter was young she started choking on a cheese stick. She had swallowed the bit but the thing was so stringy that when she swallowed it hadn’t broken completely apart from the rest that was still in her mouth. I can still see her panicked little face. I DID a finger sweep as she still had food in her mouth, luckily that was all she needed.

    My babysitter though, saved my son’s life! He was annoying his sister and decided to interrupt their game by taking the dice and ‘popping’ it in his mouth. Unfortunately he ‘popped’ a little too far and it lodged in the back of his throat. The two older kids (luckily) started yelling and the babysitter grabbed him up and did the Heimlich maneuver on him. He was finally able to breath again, though the dice was never found. He ended up going to the hospital for x-rays because they wanted to make sure that the dice hadn’t ended up in his lung. All he remembers of the incident is getting to ride UP FRONT in the ambulance and play with the siren. Still I thank god every day that she knew what to do.

  2. weebie on August 27, 2004 4:44 pm

    Ok, it’s been years since I took that course. I’ve never needed to use it thank God, but you’ve convinced me I need to take it over. Thanks for reminding all of us.

  3. Lindsey on August 27, 2004 4:51 pm

    At 12 yrs old I took the Red Cross’s Babysitting Course and learned CPR and Heimlich, 2 months after the class I saved my brother from choking on a hotdog. Now as an adult I’m a certified Red Cross Babysitter’s Course Instructor here @ work. These skills are vital, I only wish more parents knew them!

  4. Michele on August 27, 2004 6:24 pm

    Tanner choked on a penny when he was about 10 months old- scariest several seconds of my whole life! I had this moment of panic where I could not think of what I should do– I remember saying think you moron think!! Certification isn’t enough- review review and review some more, and when you think you know it, practice often.

  5. VJ on August 27, 2004 11:39 pm

    Tony was still very small, just starting to eat bits of Cheerios. It was hot, miserable day; late, and he was hungry. My parents were with Angelo and I, and we were in the car (I was in the back seat with him). I gave Tony a bit of Cherrios, and he started choking on it. Since the car was moving, I couldn’t get him out of the car seat, so I reached in, did a finger sweep and got the cheerio out of the back of his mouth. We were all shook up, but Tony was fine.

  6. Hula Doula on August 28, 2004 12:30 pm

    SWEETIE YOU ARE A PAL!!! I am a licensed CPR trainer. You just gave the best reason why people should do CPR! It’s freaky when it really does happen!!!
    When you come to recertify again you just give a jingle!! We do home parties now just so people will know how to save a life!

  7. Candi on August 28, 2004 1:09 pm

    I am here!! Can you believe it??? Who knows what changed…but it finally worked :)

    I really should get recertified, and Ken should take it with me. He has never before. I had to for nursing school and because I worked in a hospital. What a great post Julie!! I can’t imagine how you must of felt when your daughter was choking, thank God you knew what to do!

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