A person can have a great difficulty in breathing due to a blockage in the windpipe. This blockage can occur due to things such as food, toys or any other object. There have long discussions over the methods to rescue someone who is choking. What a person should do or must do has been discussed over the past decades. Whether they should raise their arm, should be patted on the back or left alone while emergency services are on their way.

There are no medical grounds for most of the suggestions given in certain articles. Some suggest that raising the arms above the head can help a choking person to breathe. Raising the arms above the head opens the diaphragm to allow lungs to inhale more air. This technique is only serviceable in the cases when people have difficulty in catching their breath after a strenuous workout session.  This fails for sure if a solid object is blocking the airway.

Hitting on the back does not help either, moreover, it can cause the patient to startle and even sustain a back injury. The object obstructing the airway should be thrown out and not thrown into the stomach. Hitting the person on his back can make the latter to occur.

If you are to rescue a person choking, encourage them to cough and breathe the best they can. Do not leave them alone, call for emergency services as soon as possible. After informing the emergency services, start performing the only solution which holds its medical grounds. Heimlich maneuver is suggested by AHA in its latest guidelines to rescue a choking person.

Heimlich maneuver uses a quick and abdominal thrust to throw the obstruction in the airway upwards. It is performed differently on the adults and on the babies or pregnant women. For performing Heimlich maneuver make a fist with one hand. Put your arms around the person and grasp your fist with your other hand just below the ribs in the midline. Make a quick, hard movement inward and upward. This maneuver should be repeated until the person is able to breathe or loses consciousness.

You should get First aid and CPR certificate from any recognized American CPR training Institute to be able to perform such rescues.

Winters bring a lot of stress for the parents. Keeping their children safe and warm becomes their main concern. Dry weather and highly diminutive temperatures can be hazardous for the kids leading to injuries and accidents. Here is what you need to know about keeping your children safe during this unfavorable season.

Things to Consider While Being Outdoors

People living in snowy regions need to be extra precautionary while in the outdoors. You should never stop kids from going out. Outdoor activities are necessary for the physical growth of the children. Instead, you need to take few precautions and make them prepare for the outside environment. Accompany them and make them wear protective gear.

If you plan to get your kids engaged in games such as ice-skating and boarding, not only make sure that they wear protective helmets but also that you carry the first aid kits. Make them play under your supervision. Be aware of threats such as thin ice and deserted patches.

Protection against dehydration

It may seem ironic but dehydration in winters is a common phenomenon. The body’s metabolism is reduced due to low temperatures. This in turn, curtails the urge to take in liquids, ultimately leading to dehydration. You should be aware of these signs of dehydration in your children:

• Tiredness

• increased thirst

• decreased urine output

• Dry tongue

• Sunken face

• Weight loss

While being indoors, clean filters of heating device regularly to ensure a clean circulation of air.

You can also use humidifiers for keeping the skin hydrated. Humidifiers work best for people who use air conditioners constantly.

Other preventive measures such as washing hands regularly and bathing with hot water should be taken to prevent diseases.

You should also get CPR and First-aid training from a certified training institute to become capable of tackling with emergencies.

How unpleasant it might sound to you, but the fact remains the same that, accidents do happen and the only way to avoid their consequences is by getting prepared for those mishaps.

God forbid, but what will you do if one of your family or friends is the victim and you can’t do anything other than experience the scene as a bystander and unable to help them at all?! It’s better to be prepared than to be sorry and that’s why first aid training holds a significance in everybody’s lives.

Being trained in first aid assistance will give you the confidence to cope in an emergency situation and you can assist your family or even a stranger in the hour of need and you’ll also have the presence of mind to act due to your training skills.

With the first aid training, you’ll also get to know about do’s and don’ts while performing CPR. For instance, you’ll be aware of the fact that you need to wear a resuscitation mask to minimize the risk of any infection while performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Last but not the least, it’s always a good feeling to know that you are the reason behind saving someone’ life and reducing someone’s pain.

We get our corporeal material insured to be prepared for any emergencies but we tend to forget about our most pricy possessions; our children. We do not give much thought to becoming capable of coping up with any mishaps that may occur to them.

The imperativeness of First aid training for the parents cannot be contested as children are the ones, most prone to be exposed to the medical emergencies.

Sports injuries, fractures from fall-outs and getting cut by sharp objects are the most common of these mishaps. By getting the training, the parents can handle the situations confidently without panicking. You will not only be able to do the necessary but also provide an example to your kids by remaining calm in a stressful situation.

Sometimes the magnitude of the emergency is drastic such as children are attracted to pools and hence tend to become drowning victims. In most of these cases, the life can be saved if you know how to give CPR or mouth to mouth resuscitation to the kids.

Training also teaches how to avoid a situation that can result in injury and harm for the kids. Toddlers have a huge risk of choking and suffocating on toys and other material, new parents must get the infant first-aid training to prevent their young ones from the harm. While hiring a babysitter also, it should be considered whether they have a first-aid and CPR training certificate approved by AHA.

This video titled as “AHA first Aid guidelines” is created with the intention of telling users first aid guidelines in case of a health emergency.

It’s a serviceable video and therefore should be watched.
In case of a stroke first aid provider should use assessment system in order to identify the systems of strokes.  The assessment system with glucose measurement should be used.

For open chest wounds the first aid provider can leave the wound open however if dressing is required to stop the bleeding then the proper dressing can be done but make sure that it is not saturated.

If spine movement is restricted than it is not recommended to use cervical collars by the first aid providers. Use of immobilization devices can be harmful. A person should be asked to stay still.
Hemostatic Dressings can be considered for providing standard bleeding control measures. When direct pressure fails to control severe or life-threatening bleeding, first aid providers who have specific training in their indications and use may consider a hemostatic dressing.

For a person having   Anaphylaxis a dose of epinephrine is recommended. Sometimes he may not respond to the initial dose and there is still time for the advance care to reach to the patient, in that case repeat dose can be considered.

You can know more about such First Aid guidelines by watching the video below