If you don't already know how, LEARN THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER. It saved a woman's life today. I share this so that you will be inspired to learn this, too.
I was on my way to the grocery store, stopped at the stop sign at the end of my sprawling stucco'd neighborhood. I looked left, no traffic. As I started to turn right at the corner, I saw a 20-something woman waving her arms as the traffic whizzed past her.
I got the message to pull over to see what was wrong. Thank heavens I did. I quickly pulled over and checked my rear view mirror to make sure my door wouldn't be ripped off by passing traffic. When I opened the door the young woman yelled "Do you know the Heimlich Maneuver?"
I dashed across the street, dodging traffic, and saw her mother was humped over the steering wheel and her face was turning purple.
I have never done the Heimlich Maneuver in my life until today. I got my training from movie scenes. I had a sense of how to do the Heimlich Maneuver, my adrenaline kicked in.
I loudly commanded the now purple-faced 50ish woman hunched over the steering wheel to get out of the car and stand up which, again thank heavens, she was able to do with a little help.
She was at least 4 inches taller than I am, and she was a heavy set woman. I asked her to bend over so my fist could get in the right spot and I got to work. I just kept Heimliching her as the traffic going in both directions whizzed past this scene, can you believe that!
I started to panic, I didn't know if I was going to be strong enough to dislodge whatever from this large woman's windpipe.
FINALLY a man in a grey truck pulled up in front of my car on the opposite side of the road and yelled "Is everything all right"
I yelled back "Get over here now!" as I mustered up all the strength I could find and Heimliched this about-to-choke-to-death woman one more time.
It worked! I could hear her exhale, but she was coughing/choking, unable to breathe properly so I commanded her to "Breathe slowly through your nose!" I have no idea where that came from, but it worked.
Before the man got to our side of the street, a HUGE piece of semi-cooked onion dislodged itself from this choking woman's throat and fell to the ground.
When he arrived on our side of the road safely, the teenager in the back seat of the choking woman's car rolled down her window and, with the widest eyed look only a teenage girl can muster, asked me if I lived in this town. I said "Yes, why?"
True to teenage form, she asked me if I knew the name of some boy. Words cannot describe the umbrella of silence the four adults, who had just faced possibly watching her grandmother die, experienced. I think I learned the true meaning of dead silence. For a split moment, we were transported or so it seemed.
The teenager seemed to have missed the entire episode of her grandmother almost choking to death. I fear for future generations. Then again, I think the vapid one helped out. The sheer bizarroness of her questions dislodged the adults focus on the near death experience we participated in. We realized that all was well, we could now proceed with our individual lives.
So, everything is fine with Grandma, mom, and the daughter and they get in their car to prepare to drive away.
The man and I now have a problem. We found ourselves trapped on the side of the road opposite to where our vehicles are. The traffic was relentlessly whizzing by.
So, again as if out of nowhere with no thought, I thrust my hand out to oncoming traffic and they stopped. They stopped in both directions. It was weird. We crossed the road safely, the man high-fived me, and we drove back into the routines of our day.
So, if you don't already know how, LEARN THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER.
This is what I did years ago in my mind. I only saw snippets about it in movie scenes, but somehow THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER was impressed on my mind. I felt responsible and that I might need to know this someday.
I can't quite explain the feeling but after a quick run through the grocery store to pick up a couple of items, my hands started shaking at the cash register. I blithered to the clerk about what had happened. When I told her that I performed the Heimlich Maneuver and saved a woman's life on the way to the store, the 20-something grocery clerk asked me "What's that?" The younger man bagging the groceries also asked me "What's that?" I showed them both how to do the Heimlich Maneuver.
My conclusion: THE 20-SOMETHINGS AND YOUNGER, IN MY AREA, NEED HEIMLICH TRAINING!
I dropped the training below.
Please learn how to do the Heinlich Maneuver and DO LISTEN to that inner voice/prompting/whatever you want to call it when it says "Pull over, help these people."
How to Do the Heimlich Maneuver
The Heimlich Maneuver® for CHOKING ADULTS
A choking victim can't speak or breathe and needs your help immediately. Follow these steps to help a choking victim:
From behind, wrap your arms around the victim's waist.
Make a fist and place the thumb side of your fist against the victim's upper abdomen, below the ribcage and above the navel.
Grasp your fist with your other hand and press into their upper abdomen with a quick upward thrust. Do not squeeze the ribcage; confine the force of the thrust to your hands.
Repeat until object is expelled.
UNCONSCIOUS VICTIM, OR WHEN RESCUER CAN'T REACH AROUND VICTIM:
Place the victim on back. Facing the victim, kneel astride the victim's hips. With one of your hands on top of the other, place the heel of your bottom hand on the upper abdomen below the rib cage and above the navel. Use your body weight to press into the victim's upper abdomen with a quick upward thrust.
Go to website to see pictures so you know what this looks like.
I WILL NEVER FORGET THE SIGHT OF THE OFFENDING ONION LAYING ON THE GROUND in front of this woman. EVER!
Repeat until object is expelled. If the Victim has not recovered, proceed with CPR.
The Victim should see a physician immediately after rescue.
Don't slap the victim's back. (This could make matters worse.)
In retrospect, we probably should have called 911, because sometimes the Heinlich maneuver doesn't work.
Thank Heavens the Heinlich Maneuver worked today. And thank heavens none of us were hit by any of the cars whizzing by.
Calling 911 didn't even cross my mind, probably because 911 is privatized here and, when I needed them once, they hung up on me when I became upset the third time they asked me how to spell my name.
How to give yourself the Heimlich Maneuver
Heinlich Maneuver for an Infant
Heinlich Maneuver for a Child. There is some controversy about the back slapping.