Heimlich Maneuver – My Dad Saved Me, I Saved My Brother, My Brother Saved Me… Essay, Research Paper

Certain lessons that a child learns earlier in life will have a great effect on them later in life. For example, if a child learns to share at an early age that child will learn how not to be selfish later in life. Since children are known for getting into things that they have no business doing people should learn life saving techniques The Webster dictionary defines the phrase Heimlich maneuver as “an emergency skill used to dislodge an object stuck in the windpipe by applying pressure to the abdomen below the ribs”. This skill is a very important technique that everyone should learn at a very early age because one can never predict if they will have to use it later on in life. Since my dad learned this skill (Heimlich maneuver) earlier in life my brother and I are alive to this day.

First, at an early age I learned my first life saving technique called the Heimlich maneuver. The first time this technique was taught to me was when i choked on a piece of hotdog that my dad cooked for me when I was little. When I first started choking it felt like I was standing in a room without any oxygen present. I was standing in the kitchen next to the counter eating a hotdog and before i knew it I swallowed a piece of hotdog without chewing it first. After i started choking I ran to my dad and he immediately performed the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the peice of hotdog that was blocking my airways. As soon as my dad dislodged this object from my airway I turned around and gave him a hug for saving my life. After all was said and done little did I know that I was going to have to turn around and perform the same thing on my younger brother.

Second, later on in life I did not think that I would have to use this skill, until my brother choked on a piece of candy. The day that my brother had this incident he brought a twenty-ounce soda and a bag of mints. While my grandmother was paying her gas my younger brother put a piece of candy in his mouth and drank some of his soda right behind it and accidentally swallowed the mint without thoroughly chewing it which caused the mint to block his air path. The first time he started choking I thought that my brother was joking around because when we were little he and I would always pretend that we were choking when we really were not, but as soon as i realized that he was not joking I performed this life saving technique on him. After I dislodged the mint from his airways I told my brother that “you owe me”. Well a couple of years later he paid his debt by “returning the favor”.

Last but not least, by me saving my brother’s life, it taught him how to perform this method in order for him to save me from choking to death. This time instead of choking on a piece of hotdog I was choking on a piece of ice. This event happened on a weeknight during the fall of 1995. I had just finished watching television and decided to do my homework, but before I started my homework I decided to get a glass of ice water. While I was sitting down I took a sip of water and a piece of ice went into my mouth and by mistake I swallowed it without chewing it. Since there was no one around who knew the Heimlich maneuver, I got up and ran as fast as I could to him with my hands on my neck so that he knew I was choking so he could dislodge the piece of ice from my windpipe. After he dislodged the ice from my airway he aske me, “Why I did not just drink some warm water?” I told him that, “I was concentrating on getting this piece of ice out of my windpipe and wasn’t thinking about drinking some warm water”.

In conclusion, this procedure is one of the most crucial lessons that one can learn. There are two different ways to perform this skill for babies and adults that everyone should learn in case of an emergency. Both my dad and my brother saved my life for which I am very thankful for. Everytime I think of this technique I will always remember how I was saved twice from choking to death by two different people in my family.