3 things one must know to save lives
A choking hazard is any object that could get stuck in someone’s throat and block their airway, making it difficult or impossible for them to breathe. To put it simply, choking happens when food or another object becomes lodged in the windpipe. It occurs when hard or dry food mistakenly enters the windpipe instead of the food pipe as it normally would.
Some of the Causes of Choking
- Eating while lying down
- swallowing food before it has been sufficiently chewed.
- swallowing small bones or objects or small objects
- inhaling small objects.
Signs of Choking
- One or both hands clutched to the throat.
- A look of panic, shock or confusion.
- Inability to talk.
- Strained or noisy breathing.
- Squeaky sounds when trying to breathe. Breathing noises that are squeaky
- Cough, which may either be weak or forceful.
- Skin, lips and nails that change colour turning blue or grey.
- Loss of consciousness.
In an emergency, medical assistance might not be accessible right away. Prior to the arrival of qualified medical assistance, one can manage serious health conditions by being familiar with emergency first aid treatments. The Heimlich manoeuvre, first aid, and CPR are a few of the skills one should be knowledgeable about. basic understanding of emergency medical assistance
In the last blog, we discussed the basics of CPR and its need. Similarly, today we will discuss another life-saving procedure known as the Heimlich maoeuvre.
Dr. Henry Heimlich invented the Heimlich maneuver in 1974, and since then, the method for removing food or other objects stuck in people’s throats has been credited with saving countless thousands of lives worldwide.
The Red Cross revised the recommendations for first aid during choking, known as “the five and five” for conscious victims, suggesting starting with five back blows to clear the airway; if that doesn’t work, rescuers should switch to five abdominal thrusts. The new recommendations urge chest thrusts for unconscious victims, a technique that Charles Guilder first advocated in a 1976 study, with findings corroborated in an Audun Langhelle study from 2000. Moreover, the 2006 guidelines changed the term “Heimlich technique” to “abdominal thrust.