Important First Aid skill.

It is important to be able to recognize when someone is choking. A choking victim usually coughs and then instinctively places his hands at his throat. If the victim can cough, encourage him to cough out the blockage. If the victim cannot make a sound, his airway is blocked. Use your fingers to clear away material in his mouth and proceed.

Assuming the choking victim is still conscious, stand behind him, with arms under his. Make one hand into a fist and press its thumb inwards above the navel and below the bone. Put your other hand around the fist and pull sharply up and towards yourself, four times. Check to see if the blockage is removed. If this didn't work, give 4 sharp blows to the back between the shoulder blades (to help dislodge material) and then repeat the maneuver. Don't stop!

For a pregnant woman, put your fist against the breastbone.

You can give yourself a Heimlich Maneuver by pushing against a blunt object (e.g. a chair back).

Last night we finished our certification for CPR and First Aid through training by the Red Cross.

Even though the First Aid training did not actually involve the Upward Chest Thrust, since that is included in the CPR training, it was still mentioned.

The Nurse stated that Dr. Heimlich has in fact made most of his money by suing people who use his name as part of a maneuver without bothering to check the usage rights with him. (EDIT: Yes, I know, this is a total Myth. But if a Nurse who works for the Red Cross is going to mention it specifically in an official class on this sort of thing...I've got to say it, don't I? *grin*)

The Red Cross now soley uses the term "Upward Chest Thrust" when refering to this method. In hindsight (5 years or more later) one begins to wonder if they didn't just want to have their own copywritten literature about the issue, and so invented their own term.

Morgon77 yesterday I did a first aid course too and the person doing the course told us you have to call it "chest thrusts" now as that guy who's name we can't use is suing people for using his name.

I also find it quite funny that on Wikipedia it states he has objected to the name "abdominal thrusts" on the grounds that the vagueness of the term "abdomen" could cause the rescuer to exert force at the wrong site.

It really seems stupid though for someone to be made so famous worldwide for this amazing procedure that has saved millions of people's lives to want to sue over people using his name, it makes him look like some real cruel heartless idiot.

Imagine if some of the other great inventors and Dr's of our time had sued over their name being used. My condition (Asperger's Syndrome - named after Hans Asperger) would have to be renamed to something like HFASD. electrical current couldn't be called Amperes, possibly the best one would be Thomas Crapper's invention (LOL!) - the end of the phrase "I'm going for a ....".

He should take his fame like other famous people and be really glad it's helping people, most people only get famous for five minutes, but to have something named after you means you will possibly be famous until the extinction of the human race which is something you should really be proud about, not suing people over to make a quick buck.

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