First Aid for Drowning

ALWAYS PERFORM THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER ON ANY DROWNING VICTIM  BEFORE YOU DO CPR!

Why is this page here?
I am posting this page because my four year old granddaughter, Melodie Ann, died in an accidental drowning. I believe that her death was caused by faulty advice given by the 911 dispatcher, and it is my sincere hope that by posting this information, Melodie will not have died in vain and can save someone else's life. 

Please distribute this information freely to everyone you know

ALWAYS PERFORM THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER ON ANY DROWNING VICTIM  BEFORE YOU DO CPR!

Did you know that by giving the Heimlich maneuver to a drowning victim, you can change their odds of dying from as high as 42% to just 3%??? Apparently a lot of people don't know this, including many emergency dispatchers, who only advise giving CPR... and since parents or bystanders are usually the first on the scene of a drowning, it is vital for them to know this information. It's true, as many as 42% of drowning victims that are given only cardiopulmonary resuscitation ( CPR ) will die, while just 3% will die if they are first given the Heimlich maneuver. Remember the ABC's of first aid... Airway, Breathing, Circulation. It is absolutely vital to clear the airway of water as soon as possible, for two reasons:
1. It is very difficult to force air into lungs that are filled with fluid. If the fluid isn't removed from the airway, it is the same as if the victim were still submerged, and
2. The mere presence of water in the lungs can occasionally change the chemical balance of the blood, causing the heart to stop. Water may diffuse directly into the bloodstream from the lungs, and death can occur very quickly.

You can get more information on these lifesaving facts from the Heimlich Institute at www.heimlichinstitute.org or by writing to them at 311 Straight, Cincinnati, OH  45219. People in the medical community are ignoring this lifesaving technique for drowning victims... don't let YOUR child or grandchild be the next victim of their ignorance! Drowning is a leading cause of death for small children, and it is called a silent killer because the victim rarely cries out or makes a sound. Death can occur within two minutes of immersion. What usually happens in a drowning is that the victim inhales water, which causes a spasm of the airway, preventing them from calling out or inhaling air or more water. 

 ALWAYS PERFORM THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER ON ANY DROWNING VICTIM  BEFORE YOU DO CPR!

If you have a swimming pool, live near a swimming pool or any body of water, have children or have friends or relatives who have children, go swimming, skiing or boating, are a physician, nurse, EMT,  paramedic, emergency dispatcher, or someday may just happen to be the one "in the right place at the right time", you need this information!!!!

SAVE A LIFE
ALWAYS PERFORM THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER ON ANY DROWNING VICTIM  BEFORE YOU DO CPR!

How to perform the Heimlich Maneuver

For drowning, remember to hug (Heimlich) first, then kiss (CPR)!
The Heimlich can save those suffering from asthma and cystic fibrosis too!

The American Red Cross and The American Heart Association recommend the Heimlich maneuver be used for drowning victims... only after CPR has been unsuccessful! How long do they say you should perform CPR before it's "unsuccessful"? No guidance on that, I guess you just wait until the victim is dead and then give it a try. There has never been an issue over whether the Heimlich clears the airway. The only issue is over where and how the Heimlich should be placed in the sequence. "He's (Heimlich) one doctor, but we have to listen to the consensus (of doctors)," explains Heather McMurtrie, a spokeswoman for the national Red Cross office. "Until the leading medical bodies change their standards, we can't change our standards. There are lots of doctors with opinions out there." And what is the opinion of doctors? "...Dr. Farrell and Dr. Robert Shapiro, a physician in the emergency medicine division at Children's, said deciding which method to use first wouldn't be important if parents would supervise their children. "We need to talk about prevention of drownings," Dr. Farrell said. "There's too many kids unsupervised, unable to handle themselves around bodies of water ... and that's what we need to focus on — not who does what first." Oh sure, let's just allow folks to die because doctors prefer to blame it on parents. Do the words "pompous a-- " come to mind? Answer truthfully now, has there ever been a 120 second stretch of time that your child has been out of your sight? A drowning can happen even when you are right there, watching... all it takes is for a child's face to go into the water and inhale even a tiny amount of water... that child can stop breathing even if you have your hands on them!
 The Red Cross and Heart Association have ALWAYS been painfully slow to change. Dr. Heimlich began promoting the Heimlich maneuver for choking in 1974, but the Red Cross kept teaching "back slaps" to treat choking until 1986 (that's 12 YEARS and countless unnecessary deaths!). The Red Cross finally changed their protocol after the Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop, came out and said "Millions of Americans have been taught to treat persons whose airways are obstructed by a foreign body by administering back blows, chest thrusts, and abdominal thrusts. Now they must be advised that these methods are hazardous, even lethal. A back slap can drive a foreign object even deeper into the throat. Chest and abdominal thrusts, because they refer to blows to unspecified locations on the body, have resulted in cracked ribs and damaged spleens and livers, among other injuries. . . 
The best technique in any choking situation is the Heimlich Maneuver. I urge the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and all those who teach first aid to teach only the Heimlich Maneuver. Manuals, posters, and other materials that recommend treating choking victims with slaps and thrusts should be withdrawn from circulation. . .
The Heimlich Maneuver is safe, effective, and easily mastered by the average person. It can be performed on standing or seated victims and on persons who have fallen to the floor. It can be performed on children and even on oneself."
That same year, the Red Cross adopted the Heimlich maneuver as its second resort for treating drowning. WHY are they so slow to change? Is it because they think that Joe Average will get confused if told to use the Heimlich before CPR only on drowning victims? Maybe it's because they already have all those expensive books printed and updating the information will complicate things... or are they just afraid of the lawsuits that might come if folks knew that they'd been given antiquated medical information that had killed their loved ones for all these years?
Believe it or not, the American Red Cross has given three (very lame) reasons why they don't recommend using the Heimlich Maneuver first... 
1.) they say it takes too long. Sorry, ten seconds is NOT too long to save a life! It took much longer than that to get the faulty advice from the 911 operator that killed my granddaughter. 
2.) they say that using the Heimlich may complicate a neck injury. Guess what, CPR will complicate neck injuries too unless the neck is stabilized first!
3.) they say that Joe Average will be confused if told to perform the Heimlich first only on drowning victims and not on heart attack victims. You know, if someone's not smart enough to figure out whether I've drowned or had a heart attack, I don't want them doing CPR on me anyway! In fact, the American Heart Association now recommends ONLY doing chest compressions and not CPR for heart attacks (read "History Makes the Case")! WAKE UP, Red Cross, how many innocent people have to die before you come up to speed!!!!!!
According to Heimlich, court settlements have already been reached in certain cases of drowning deaths, in which swimming facilities were required to pay sums because their lifeguards did not immediately do the Heimlich maneuver, but did CPR instead.
Am I mad? You bet! I am totally disgusted to think that this vital information has been ignored for years, information which may very well have saved my granddaughter and thousands of others too. The government never minds intruding to make new rules for some gizmo or gadget that may injure 10 or 15 kids a year, or trying to take away our gun rights "for the children", or asking us to send our money to feed people in other countries... but they are deaf, dumb, and blind when it comes to a very simple near-cure for something that routinely kills thousands. I made a speech to my local city council (Independence, MO)... the response I got was "gee, we've heard that (Heimlich for drowning) works, but until everyone else in the country changes, we prefer to let our citizens die". Is there ANY jurisdiction in this country that has the gonads to do what is right? I don't care whose toes I step on, who's cage I have to rattle, I will make sure that Melodie's voice rings LOUD in the fight to save anyone else's family the torture of losing a loved one because of bureaucratic foot-dragging. 

If you would like to make a  $5.00 non-tax-deductible donation to help defray my out-of-pocket expenses for printer paper and ink, stickers, and radio advertising time I use to spread the word about using the Heimlich for drowning, click on the Donation button. 

Posted by:
Kim Brown
P.O. Box 520867
Independence, MO  64052
melodiesvoice@escape-co.com

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