Choking Victims: 1 year and older

Conscious Choking Victims

It is important for you to recognize the difference between a choking emergency and another emergency like heart-attack, seizure, or other respiratory failures. An individual usually begins to choke when a foreign object gets stuck in the airway.

If the choking seems severe i.e., the person is having difficulty breathing, is unable to speak, turns blue (cyanosis), and makes universal choking signs – you must immediately activate the Emergency Response System.

If a person is getting enough air to breathe and cough, encourage the person to continue to cough to get the object out.

1. Seek the victims consent before helping.
   
   
2. Tell the person that you are trained in CPR, what you will be doing, and ask if the person wants to be helped.
   
   
3. For a child seek the consent of the parent/guardian.
   
   

Abdominal Thrusts:

Stand or kneel behind the victim. Make a fist with onehand and place it on the person’s abdomen just above the navel. Grab the fist with the other hand and press the victim’s abdomen and give quick upward thrusts.

For pregnant women and people too big for you, perform chest thrusts instead of abdominal thrusts.

Thrust Defined: To push forcibly

Unconscious Choking Victims

While performing abdominal thrusts on a conscious person, the person may become unresponsive and unconscious. In this situation you know the cause of the victim’s symptoms and should activate the Emergency Response System, if you have not already done so.

1. Open the airway and look for the object.
   
   
2. If you see the object, remove it with your fingers.
   
   
3. Begin CPR for about 5 cycles or 2 minutes.
   
   
4. Every time you open the mouth to give breaths, open it wide to look for the object.
   
   
5. Continue giving CPR.

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