CPRMom

In most of my CPR courses I'm asked how effective the Heimlich maneuver is. We can practice where to place our hands, but this is not a skill that can be practiced on someone who is not choking and is not easy to practice on a CPR mannequin. But today I found this really neat product and video. This would be an easy and effective way to teach proper hand positioning and technique. Unfortunately for me it is a bit cost prohibitive. But I wanted to share the video as it is a good training aid just to see how effective proper hand placement and technique are to successfully relieve choking. You can read more about this product at www.actfastmed.com .

Tonight I had the most wonderful experience. My mom was up visiting and my husband and I decided to go out by ourselves. This alone was a wonderful thing, but the best part of our evening was when we stopped at the supermarket on our way home. We were in the cereal aisle when a woman with a older infant came up the aisle as well. We struck up one of those 'supermarket' conversations about the price of Cheerios when she said that I looked familiar. At first she thought I worked for the local hospital, which I don't, but I mentioned that I taught CPR. Turns out she was in one of my classes almost a year ago. Then she tells me "You saved my daughter's life". Her daughter began to choke on food a few months ago and she successfully performed infant back slaps and chest thrusts to remove the object. Her daughter is almost 13 months old and was happily sitting in the shopping cart smiling at us. We hugged in the aisle. It probably looked odd to anyone els...