If you’re reading this blog, you are more than likely safety minded, and searching for ways to keep your kids and family safe. We are all busy people but do our best to keep informed and up to date.
So let me ask you this-
What do you do if your child is choking? What is the first thing you do if you find a child (or an adult!) that is unresponsive? What if they have a pulse but are not breathing? What if they are breathing but their breaths are extremely shallow or gasping? Do you do rescue breathing or chest compressions first? When you do chest compressions, how many? How deep? How long?
Is your head spinning yet?
70% of people do not know the answers to those questions.
It’s easy for me to sit here and act like the answers to those questions are easy because I perform these actions on a regular basis for my job. I’m able to be calm and methodical, and do what I need to do. But for most people, encountering this situation is their first experience with ANY of this. Combine that with it being your own child or loved one…there goes the head spinning again. So the single best thing you can do is be confident in the answers to these questions. That way if a nightmare comes true, you KNOW you are doing everything in your power.
The American Heart Association offers tons of classes for basic life support training. Yes, it’s time out of your day. It’s easy to put on the backburner. But think of it this way- if you come across your child unconscious and not breathing, would you rather fly by the seat of your pants because you didn’t have time to take a class? Or would you rather give your child the best possible chance at surviving the situation?
The survival outcome of a person receiving CPR prior to EMS arriving is more than double that of someone who did not. Do you want that resting on your shoulders?
Go here to register for a class. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
I totally agree that CPR is an important class for everyone to have under their belt. We had a quick one-on-one session with a respiratory therapist when my ds was released from the NICU, then dh and I took a CPR class through his work a few years later (his law firm sponsored it!). I’m not still certified, but it at least I had some idea of what to do when *I* choked on a vitamin pill last year. Talk about embarrassing! Everyone was in bed and I took my horse pill of a vitamin and it got stuck. I couldn’t make a noise and my useless dogs just sat and looked at me–no Lassies there. Obviously I’m still here, but it was truly scary and time does slow down.