CPR and Choking Emergencies

December 25, 2009

For this week we are to create two scenarios and since I work with children between the ages of three and five this will be my age range. For the choking emergency I will have a four year old that is having lunch, but talking to his friends while he has food in his mouth. When the child starts first to cough and then he jumped up and ran over and we can see that something is wrong and we then follow the steps we were taught in our first aid class. The first thing we did was to make sure he was choking and that meant that he was not able to talk or anything.The next thing we did was stand behind him and put our arms around his waist, after doing this we placed one hand in a fist and then placed the other hand over the top. Your hands are in postion right above the belly button and you will then proceed to give five upward thrusts into the childs abdomen. You will repeat this until the item is expelled. We called 911 and then proceeded to start the abdominal thrusts to dislodge the item if possible until help arrived. We were able to remove the item and the child was fine, but you need to always make sure you teach the children in your care not to talk and eat at the same time and do not feed them items that are not meant for someone their age. All staff should be trained in CPR and First Aid often so they are up to date on any changes that may occur each year.
Everyone that works with young children should have proper training and attend workshops to understand young children and why they do the things they do.
If we have training and understand why we are training then we may be able to keep the children in our care safe. Some of the other things adults could do to be ready for any emergencies that may occur would be to hold extra trainings at the work site so they can make sure they have all supplies needed for any unforeseeable emergency that may happen.

For the second scenario on CPR and a young child, I have a child that has fallen down on the playground where there are two teachers with fifteen children. The first thing we did was make sure the other children were not close to the first child and that the area had nothing dangerous. This is called assessing the area and you need to do this before going to the person so you do not get hurt too. The next step is to check the person/child to see if they are conscious or not and then you will call for help or have someone do it, but you will always call 9-1-1 and let them care for the child at the end-your job is to try and keep the child alive until trained help arrives. After doing those things you will carry out the ABC’s as they are called, A is for checking the airway, B is for breathing and for this you will give a breath for the child and if no response you do again. You may have to re-open the airway and restart if needed. For C you are doing the circulation and you will repeat these steps until professional help arrives to take over. The steps you would go through for CPR aor a child are: first you will lay the child down flat and open the airway by tilting the head. Second you will check for breathing, if they are not then you will start the rescue breathing and this is done by placing your mouth over their mouth and depending on the age you may need to cover the mouth and nose. You will give two breaths and then relisten for breathing. If still no response then you will start the compressions and you do this by placing the palm of your hand right below the breatbone and you do 30 compressions to every two breaths and you wil continue with another round if no response.

You will also need to have posted in each room the emergency phone numbers so they are available for everyone in the school. Each classroom should also have a complete first aid kit in a locked cabinet.
To be prepared for any emergency it is vital that you go through the proper training yearly so you stay current on how to handle most things that may come up in a setting with children-this could be your home or your job and maybe just anywhere that children may be. As with any emergency everyone should have the training to help if the need is necessary and I understand that even when we have the training we are reluctant to help because sometimes people just do not want someone to help even if it means life or death. With young children we do not have to worry about this in most cases because the parents have to give us written permission to care for their child if something happens and we are required by law to have various forms on file for each child and have emergency contact information for parents and back-up contacts if parents are not available. I have never had to use my training, but I have stayed current in both First aid and CPR for over twenty years and I am now current in the medication training that is required for child care providers and I think everyone that cares for or has young children should have all of the above trainings so they can be prepared for whatever emergency may happen.


References:
Robertson, C. (n.d.). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
CPR Training Steps: www.redcross.org