{"id":304,"date":"2011-12-24T18:07:58","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T01:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=304"},"modified":"2025-07-10T22:29:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T05:29:31","slug":"heimlich-maneuversaves-many-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=304","title":{"rendered":"Heimlich Maneuver Saves Many Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>By N. LA VERL CHRISTENSEN
\nSclpps League Newspapers
\nWhat would you do if you suddenly
\nrealized a person in your presence
\nwas choking on a piece of food or other
\nobject and couldn’t breathe?
\nChoking can cause death in just four
\nminutes. Indeed. it claims an es-
\ntimated 4,000 fatalities in America
\neach year.
\nJust recently Mayor Edward Koch of
\nNew York City almost choked to death
\nwhile dining in a restaurant. Unable to
\ni talk or breathe. he fought off panic and
\nmouthed the words, “I am choking,”
\n:4 to his friend, David Margolis.
\na Koch then stood and raised his arms
\nS as Margolis dislodged the food from
\nc the mayor-‘s throat with his version of
\n‘ the “Heimlich Maneuver” – locking
\nhis hands over the diaphragm and
\npushing in and upward.
\n“suddenly I could breathe,” Koch
\nrelated gratefully,
\nMayor Koch’s case helps dramatize
\na predicament which happens all too
\noften – one in which any person could
\nfind himself either as choking victim
\nor rescurer. In either case, knowing
\n“what to do” can make the difference
\nbetween tragedy or safe recovery.
\nThe Heimlich Maneuver – named
\nfor Dr. Henry L. Heimlich. specialist
\nin esophagus surgery who developed
\nthe technique – is simple enough for
\nan informed layman to perfomi.
\nStories of its successful application
\nare numerous by ‘youm as well as
\nadult, Sometimes even a choking vlc-
\ntim himself is able to apply die remedy
\nwith satisfactory results.
\nOn May 16, UM. according to Boy
\nScouts of America records, students of
\nthe Annallee Avenue School in Los
\nAngeles were playing kickball when
\nHershel Beasley, 10, choked on candy.
\nMost pupils panicked and ran to
\nreport to the teacher. But Joseph
\nJohansen, 10, had been taught the
\nHeimlich Maneuver at a Cub Scout
\nmeeting. He dislodged the candy and
\nsaved Hershel’s life.
\nIn Orem 10-year-old Clark Maughan
\nand his sister Krista, B, learned the
\nmaneuver at a “baby sitters class” at
\nthe Orem Fire Department. .While the
\nparents, Dr. and Mrs. Mike Maughan.
\nwere at church on a day in December
\nIME, baby brother Rob, 22 months.
\nswallowed a bulky ring which blocked
\nhis windplpe.
\nRob started to turn blue. Krista tried
\nthe Heimiich tedtnique unsuccessful-
\nly. Then Clark took over and it worked.
\nThe ring popped out and the toddler
\nwas breathing.
\nOn Dec. 29, 1979, Salvatore
\nBonamico, 12, a Boy Scout in New
\nYork, responded to the nighttime
\nscreams of his mother when the father
\ncouldn’t breathe after a cough drop
\nobstructed his air passage. Salvato1e’s
\nscout trainlnl paid off – he saved his
\ndad’s life.
\nLt. Evan Henderson. emergency
\nmedical services director at the Provo
\nFire Department, says instruction in
\nthe Heimlich Maneuver can be ob-
\ntained through the firemen or Red
\nCross in most cities.
\nViewers of a training film, he points
\nout, will learn to perform the
\nmaneuver with the victim standing.
\nsitting. or prone,
\nHenderson mentioned various chok-
\ning emergencies – an elderly man
\nrescued by a ski patrol member when
\nhe choked on chicken at an Elks Lodge
\ndinner; an off-duty paramedic ad-
\nministering the maneuver to a choking
\nman at a steak fry; a 75-year-old man
\nat a rest home saved by paramedics
\nafter he’d collapsed when a chunk of
\nbeef stuck in his windpipe.
\nJerry A. Holmes, a Red Cross in-
\nstructor, says choking that is life-
\nthreatening occurs when a piece of
\nfood, candy or other foreign object
\n(even including water) presses down
\non the epiglottis ( valve or lld at the top
\nof the windpipe), keeping it closed; or
\ngets under the epiglottis. plugging the
\nair passage.
\nPartial or temporary choking, or
\nswallowing a particle into the bronchi
\nisn’t apt to be life-threatening and the
\nirritation usually is relieved by the vic-
\ntim’s own coughing, Holmes notes.
\nWhat symptoms should you look for
\nto be sure a person is actually choking?
\n“Any of three,” says Holmes: “The
\nvictim cannot talk or breathe; he turns
\nblue; he collapses ., falls unconscious
\ndue to lack of oxygen.”
\nThe victim of a non-fatal heart can
\nbreathe and may speak and complain
\nof chest pain. But the choking victim
\ncan neither speak nor breathe.
\nInstructors teach use of’the simple
\ngesture of placing your hand around
\nyour throat to signify, “I am choking, ”
\nThe Heimlich maneuver should be
\nused only when you are sure the victim
\nis choking because of obstruction,
\nIf the victim is standing: Stand
\nbehind him and wrap your arms
\naround his waist. Grasp your fist with N
\nyour other hand and place the fist.
\nthumb side toward the victim. against l
\nhis abdomen, slightly above the navel
\nand below the rib cage. Press your
\nfist into the victim’s abdomen with a
\nquick upward thnist. Repeat several
\ntimes if necessary.
\nif victim is sitting: Stand or kneel
\nbehind the chair and perform the
\nmaneuver the same way commercial inflatable tent wholesale<\/a>.
\nIf victim has collapsed or is too
\nheavy to lift; ‘hirn him face up so that
\nhe is lying on his back. Face victim
\nand kneel astride his hips. With one of
\n‘ our hands atop the other, place the
\n‘ heel of your bottom hand on the ab-
\n‘ domen in the same position as above
\n1 and proceed in a similar manner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By N. LA VERL CHRISTENSEN Sclpps League Newspapers What would you do if you suddenly realized a person in your presence was choking on a piece of food or other object and couldn’t breathe? Choking can cause death in just four minutes. Indeed. it claims an es- timated 4,000 fatalities in America each year. Just… Continue reading Heimlich Maneuver Saves Many Lives<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2358,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/2358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}