Tracheotomy

Tracheotomy

       A wiki link on the subject can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracheotomy

            A YouTube animation can be found at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_5eKkwnIRs

            A wiki link on choking can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choking

            Another  link on choking can be found at:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000049.htm

            A wiki link on CPR can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPR

            A wiki link on the history of tracheal intubation can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tracheal_intubation

 

Take a class when you can.

The USA Marine Corps gave me classes on the subjects, including using broken glass to do the cutting for a tracheotomy. Fortunately, I have never had to do it for real.

Even I was choking on a piece of a hot dog at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii around a half century ago, and the "then version" of the Heimlich Maneuver did the trick in clearing the airway and saving my life. Even five years ago I had a heart attack, and received CPR until later efforts could be used. So training paid off in my case examples.

 I can imagine parents sometime getting some first aid classroom training for treating their children until reinforcements arrive.

Plan B. Get any book, like a military book, or a Scout book,  or a Red Cross book, on first aid.

In the end, one never knows when this skill training and knowledge might pay off. In my case "sometimes" was decades later.

Last, one more story. Around two decades I came upon a car wreck with mini-truck wrapped around a telephone pole.  Well there was one older gal running around yelling "do something", as well as a highway patrolman who was poorly performing in my opinion. So my own USMC training kicked in, and it all sorted out OK in the end. Like I said,  you just never know.