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what
yo
ucan
do...
TIMELY
Tips and
Helpful
Suggestions for YOU and YOUR
FAMILY
• In
Case of Choking
...
Put yourself in these two circumstances: Your in–
fant or child begins choking on his food or sorne object.
Or, while in a restaurant , a man at a table next to yours
begins choking on a piece of mea
t.
What would you do?
The two incidents just described are not rare. Every
year thousands of people (3,500 in the United States
alone) die from accidental ingestion or inhalation of
objects or food which blocks their air passages. The
highest number of deaths occur among children four
and under.
Thankfully, blocked air passages are almost always
immediately freed by a violent, automatic fit of cough–
ing. But, if this doesn't happen, and a child or adult
begins gasping for breath, there must be quick action.
Here's what to do:
Don't panic. Send someone to call for emergency
belp. Let the choking victim continue to cough in an
effort to dislodge the food or object. Don't interfere,
distract or try to pull the object or food particle out with
your fingers. If
it
is apparent that further effort on the
victím's part will not dislodge the obstacle, take further
and immediate steps.
If the choking victim is an infant or small child,
turn him upside down, holding him by his legs or
draped over your arm at his waist, and slap him on the
back between his shoulder blades. For a larger child or
an adult, lay him on bis stomach over the edge of a
table or chair or on his side on the floor. The important
thing is to get him in a head-down position. Slap him
firmly on the back between the shoulder blades.
Chances are the obstruction will now be dislodged.
Turn the victim over and, if possible, pull the ob–
stacle out with your thumb and forefinger. But be care–
ful. Don't poke and don'tjam ít further in. Ifthe victim
has fainted or is still gasping for breath, regardless of
whether or not the obstruction
is
still there, give him
artificial respiration. Rush him to the nearest doctor or ·
hospital emergency room if emergency help hasn't al–
ready been called or is not on the way.
To minimize the chances of small children becom–
ing choking victims, do not allow children three and
under to eat nuts, candies with nuts, or popcorn. Inspect
32
places where babies play, picking up any small objects
that could become potential choking hazards.
•
Drugs and the Unborn
Every expectant motber or a wife contemplating
motherhood should be aware that every drug she takes,
with few exceptions, will also affect her unborn infant,
possibly in adverse ways.
Doctors at one time considered the placenta, the
special organ which forms inside the uterus, or womb,
to nourish the unborn baby, a barrier against possible
harmful substances such as drugs. But they now realize
that rather tban acting as a barrier to tbe exchange of
drugs from the motber to the unborn infant, the pla–
centa acts more like a sieve. This was shockingly etched
into the minds of those in the medica! world by the
thalidomide disaster of 1961 and 1962.
Thalidomide was considered to be a very mild
tranquilizer or sedative.
lt
was tested and found to be
safe in experiments with the usual species of pregnant
test animals. 1t was thought so safe that it was sold over
the counter without prescription. Not until after sorne
5,000 European and English babies were born mal–
formed with fiipper-like arms, hands attached almost
directly to shoulders, and in sorne cases no arms or legs
at all - a direct result of mothers-to-be taking thalido–
mide
in
early pregnancy - did doctors realize how
vulnerable an unborn infant is to drugs, even a drug as
"mild" and "safe" as thalidomide.
Warns an acknowledged medica! authority, editor
Morris Fishbein, M.D., "Mothers should sharply restrict
their intake of medicines. The effects of most drugs on
the developing fetus are still largely unknown. There–
fore, prudence dictates the avoidance of tranquilizers,
weight-reducing pills, and probably even aspirin. Fur–
thermore, the birth process itself is best accomplished
with a mínimum of analgesia and anesthesia. Evidence
is accumulating that implicates these substances, even
when utilized in modest amounts, in the causation of
subtle forms of cerebral dysfunction and other learning
disorders in later childhood"
(Successful Marriage,
1971,
p.
295).
- Patrick
A.
Parnell
PLAIN TRUTH September 1973