Choking Awareness Matters!

Spring arrives with quite a few days of note, but One Requires Special Attention!

These months are jam packed with special days. We begin with a favorite of many --

Daylight Savings followed by Ramadan, St. Paddy’s, the start of baseball season,

spring, Easter, Mother’s Day and an important day that could have a major impact on many lives –

National Choking Awareness Day. Your team at Gold Medal Home Health wants you to

be knowledgeable about choking.

With an estimated 5,000 Americans dying every year from choking it’s vital to

understand the causes, prevention procedures and how to help one who is choking.

Education is the key when it comes to choking and during March the New Jersey

Division of Developmental Disabilities (NJDDD) is offering in-person and virtual training

for caregivers. The NJDDD has a complete list of events and registration links on their

web site; Click here. The in-person training courses are scheduled on Wednesdays in

various locations throughout the state but, if you can’t attend in person they are offering

virtual workshops which are available any time. Some of the topics that will be covered

include Preventing Food Grabbing, Mealtime Safety & Documentation, Understanding

Pica, and G-Tube Care. Understanding and recognizing choking symptoms is important.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) choking is when someone is having

a hard time breathing because food or a small object is blocking the throat or windpipe

(airway). When a person chokes their airway is blocked which prevents oxygen from

reaching the lungs. It only takes four minutes for brain damage to occur when it is

deprived of oxygen. Quick first aid can save a life.

The NIH wants everyone to know the Causes, Symptoms, First Aid Procedures and

Prevention.

The Causes:

 Eating too fast & not chewing food well

 Ingesting a small object

 Swallowing problems (due to enlarge tonsils or tumors of the neck &

throat)

 Having problems with food pipe and swallowing tube

 Being unconscious and breathing in vomit

 Swelling from a head injury

Symptoms people in peril from choking present:

 Grabbing throat with the hand

 Difficulty breathing or talking (noisy breathing high-pitched sounds when

inhaling)

 Weak, ineffective coughing

 Bluish skin color

 Loss of consciousness/unresponsive if blockage not cleared

First Aid Procedures:

 Ask – “Are You choking?” “Can you speak?” (if person is coughing & able

to speak encourage coughing to dislodge object)

 Use Heimlich Maneuver (using abdominal thrusts, back blow, or both) if

person cannot speak and is having a hard time breathing

 If the person faints/loses consciousness put person on the floor and call

911. Begin chest compressions to dislodge object. Abdominal thrusts are

done on a conscious choking victim and chest compressions on one who

is unconscious.

 If you see a loose object blocking the airway, try to remove it, but if it is

stuck DON’T TRY TO GRAB IT because you may push it farther into the

airway.

 After an object is dislodged the person should see a health care provider.

Prevention Tips:

 Eat slowly and chew food.

 Keep and remove small objects around your surroundings.

Being trained in First Aid and CPR provides the tools needed to help a person

experiencing choking, and most important, is a lifesaver.