First Aid Series Part One: Intro
When was the last time you practiced any First Aid skills?
About ten days ago I got a surprise practice when I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on my nephew at a family reunion.
We were attending a small-town parade—so small that the parade goes down main street one direction, turns around, and goes past again. It’s a great time, and the kids love it. (I'm not gonna lie--even though I'm an Urban Girl at heart, I love small towns. They're so charming and the people are almost always really friendly.) Out of nowhere my nephew made a couple of quick gagging/coughing sounds and spun around with wide eyes. Poor kid had a half-chewed salt-water taffy stuck in his throat. He managed to get out enough sound that his “I’m choking” could be understood, but sounded more like “Mchucke.”
I didn’t react at first—I just stood there for a second. Then my dad said, “Do the Heimlich maneuver!” I still wasn't processing things completely, so I asked my nephew if he was okay—maybe he had coughed it out on his own?
He shook his head. Nope, he wasn't okay. So I spun him around, did my best at placing my hands below his sternum, and gave it a go. He made a little gagging noise, coughed up the candy, and was completely fine. He went back to chasing down the candy projectiles that were coming from the floats and giving high fives to people in the parade.