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Dr. Henry Heimlich presented a 'Save a Life Award' in 2006 to a woman who saved another in a restaurant. |
BY JIM HALL
The Heimlich maneuver may or may not be the best way to aid a conscious, choking adult.
It depends who you talk to.
Someone trained in American Heart Association techniques will recommend the Heimlich.
But someone trained by the American Red Cross will tell you to give five back blows first, then do the Heimlich--if necessary.
Sorry, the Red Cross doesn't call it the Heimlich anymore. They say give five "abdominal thrusts."
A story published yesterday about a Mary Washington Hospital nurse who saved a choking colleague with the Heimlich resurrected a disagreement in the medical community on the best way to treat someone who's choking.
Instructors trained by the American Heart Association teach students to wrap their arms around the choking person and force enough air from the lungs to make the person cough. Repeated enough times, this technique will often dislodge the trapped object.
Mary Washington Hospital personnel are required to learn this technique, and hospital personnel teach it in their public classes.
The hospital does not recognize American Red Cross training on this issue and requires new employees to be retrained in American Heart Association techniques, said Sharon Allen, education coordinator for the hospital.
The American Red Cross changed its recommendation in 2005, when it began teaching a "five-and-five" technique.
Rescuers are now taught to give five sharp blows between the shoulder blades of the choking person, followed by five abdominal thrusts, if the airway is still blocked.
"It is our stance that through the two techniques the object is more likely to get dislodged rather than through abdominal thrusts alone," said Lisa Dunnivan, director of health and safety services for the Rappahannock chapter of the Red Cross, in an e-mail.
The Red Cross also believes that "abdominal thrust" is more descriptive of what actually happens, so it uses that expression rather than the term Heimlich, Dunnivan said.
Staff librarian Craig Schulin contributed to this story. Jim Hall: 540/374-5433