PASCO, Wash. – After a little girl died on Sunday at the Kennewick Costco choking on food, we looked into how to help a child if you see them choking.
Ben Shearer of the Pasco Fire Department demonstrated how to properly do the Heimlich Maneuver but there are some other important tips he wants you to know.
The first thing you need to do is call 911 according to Shearer, then make sure the child really can’t breathe.
If they can’t then start the maneuver and here’s how.
“Typically when a person isn’t breathing, just by reflex they’re going to bring their hands up to their throat,” says Shearer. “Some sort of sign that’s an indication that they’re not breathing very well. What we’re going to do is take one hand right here and you’re going to make a fist and you’re going to take your fist and place it right over the top of the belly button area, reach around so you’re under their arms around their stomach and abdominal area. Take that other hand, wrap it around your fist and as hard and as fast as you can you’re going to squeeze back and up. So it’s going to compress the stomach and compress the lungs, hopefully, force all that air out all at once and whatever’s in their throat hopefully will become dislodged.”
Shearer also demonstrated how to perform the Heimlich on an infant and it’s different.
Shearer says if you don’t know how to do this, there are a bunch of places you can go to learn this life-saving technique. You can go to your local Red Cross, Columbia Safety LLC as well as take a babysitting class. Those classes are offered both in-person and online.
