What to do in a choking or CPR emergency…


Last week we had an emergency. A little boy in our class was quite curious about some sorting coins we have. I saw him eyeing them and even had to take one out of his mouth at one point. The next thing I know he has a panicked look on his face. When I asked him several times what was wrong and he wouldn’t answer I realized that he was choking. He was panicking and gasping for air which was making the situation worse. Luckily I have a Red Cross poster in the room that we go over every week with our employees. It reads;
If you think a child is choking, ask the child "Are you choking?" If he nods, tell him you are going to help.
1. Kneel or stand firmly behind him and wrap your arms around him so that your hands are in front.
2. Make a fist with one hand.
3. Put the thumb side of your fist slightly above the navel (belly button) and well below the breastbone.
4. Grasp the fist with your other hand and give quick upward thrusts into his abdomen.
5. Give thrusts until the object is forced out and he can breathe, cough, or talk or until he stops responding.
When he finally spit out the coin, I was so relieved. My co worker who was keeping the other children calm and on stand by to call 911 brought the children outside to play while I calmed the little boy down. I gave him some water and let him rest. Then I called his mother to let her know what had happened. We could have avoided this situation by making sure we have age appropriate toys for the children. We now have once a month emergency meetings to go over the Heimlich maneuver and our employees are also required to take mandatory CPR training.
If the little boy had needed CPR we would have done the following;
Lay the child on their back and blow deep breaths of air into their mouth. Keep your eyes on the childs chest to see if their lungs are responding. Tilt the chin back when giving air. After giving air push on the chest, do so in a pattern. If the child does not respond call 911.