CPR and First Aid Emergencies

CPR and Choking Emergencies

          No one ever wants an emergency in which one has to conduct Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to happen while taking care of children. Sometimes things happen out of our control and we need to know how to handle the situation, stay calm, and preform any emergency procedures we need to until help arrives. In this section of my blog, I am going to describe two emergency scenarios, the proper procedures of preforming CPR, how to prepare, respond, and possibly prevent an emergency that requires CPR or First Aid.

Choking Emergency

           As many of us know a child or adult who seems to be fine one minute can be chocking on a piece of food, or even small toys and other small items. Choking is the leading cause of accidental deaths in young children, because they put everything in their mouths when they are teething, or don't chew things up properly. Many adults may now what to do when they see someone choking, but they panic which causes them to forget the procedures of what to do to clear the air way.  I am going to describe a scenario, and explain what one should do in a choking emergency.

          A four year old little boy is playing with small Lego blocks. He wants to use a certain size and color block, but it is stuck to another. He struggles to break it free, but it does not budge. The boy then decides to try to break the block free with his teeth. The block comes loose and the boy swallows the block, but it becomes lodges in the boy’s airway. What do you do?

          At first look one might not know what is wrong with the little boy, but quickly take notice to the boy’s surroundings. One might notices that the boy seems to be choking on something, and begins check to see if the airway is blocked and can be cleared with a finger sweep. If that doesn't work, begin to try the Heimlich maneuver until the object comes loose. If the child becomes unconscious and stops breathing at anytime have someone call 911 and start to preform CPR and continue to clear the airway.

       Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Emergency

       

According to the American Red Cross cardiac emergencies are rare in children, but Respiratory emergencies are more likely to happen and lead to cardiac emergencies.  What do you do if you have an unconscious child with no pulse and not breathing? You IMMEDIATELY call 911 and begin to preform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. In the following scenario what should one do to help this unconscious child?

          While at the lake with your family you notice a child struggling to stay above the water, you scan the area to see if anyone else sees this or if the child's parent is close by. Then you look back and notice the child stopped struggling and floating with his face in the water. What do you do?

          As a CPR/ First Aid certified person you do not have to do anything unless people know that you are, according to my instructor, but you can be a Good Samaritan and help. The first thing you want to do is to turn the child over to have his airways above the water and move him to a flat solid surface. Then get if parents are present get permission to preform CPR, and have someone call 911. After this step check the child breathing, by doing the following...

·         If the child is not breathing, check his airway by tilting his head back slightly more than a normal head position, and open the mouth.

·         Clear airway if blocked

·         Pinch the nose and give two rescue breaths, check for rise and fall of chest.

·         Check for breathing, if no sign of breathing is noticed check for pulse.

·         No pulse begin chest compression (child 30 compression about 2 inches with the palm of one hand, infant 30 compression 1 1/2 inches with 2 fingers, adult 30 compression about 2 inches deep with two hands)

·         Continue all steps until child begins to breath, and has a pulse, or until help arrives and takes over but do not stop until the paramedics tell you to.

·         If the child begins to spit up turn on side and clear airway.

How to Prepare, Respond, and Possibly Prevent an Emergency

      

    As an educator of young children I have to be preparing for all types of emergencies, and how I can be prepared is to be certified in First Aid and CPR and keep current on the changes. Every two years, my staff and I get retrained and certified in First Aid and CPR since it is a Maryland State licensing  COMAR regulation to have at least one teacher in every classroom certified, and also that CPR expires every two years and first aid every three. Even if I was not an educator and needed by the state to have certification in CPR and First Aid, I would feel more comfortable as a parent if I knew how to help my family. My boyfriend’s family owns a house near a lake in Kentucky, one day when his nephew was two, we took the dog to the edge of the property to swim and retrieve things we would throw in the water for her. Well we did not realize that the dog while running in to the water knocked over his nephew who was standing thigh deep in the water, being two he panicked and did not know what to do. And floated deeper out and began to bob up and down in the water. I quickly let go of the dog leash and jumped in to get him. Luckily I did not have to preform rescue breathing or CPR, because I caught it quick enough but it could have been worse if I was not there or didn't know what to do.  How we can all be prepared to help in these types of emergencies, is to all have training in CPR and First Aid, and maybe the CPR app on our smart phones to have a reminder of the procedures.

          Once you are prepared for any emergency that may come your way, you need to know how to respond. Always remember to quickly survey the situation and area, and then have someone else call 911 if at all possible, and get permission from victim or parent before conducting any emergency procedure if you can. Then continue to help until help arrives and takes over.

          I will say it is hard to prevent these types of emergencies because they can happen so quickly, but you can take so precautions by removing choking hazards, like small toys, and items from the reach of children. At my child care facility we use a choking tube to see if any toy that may enter the building can cause harm, and those toys are not allowed where small children are. So purchasing a choking tube might be a good idea is you have small children in the house and want to make sure that the toys that they are playing with are except-able, and not a choking hazard. Another way to possibly prevent these emergencies is just constant supervision, I know from experience, reading about, and seeing it on TV, things happen quickly, we just need to be prepared to respond and possible help prevent these types for emergencies form happening to the children in our care, or the adults around us.