12 Top First Aid Tips Of Christmas (day 8) Choking………

on the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.

some grapes that made choke suddenly…………

So here it is. One of the biggest fears of any parent is what to do if your child chokes……weaning is one of the hardest things any parent goes through (alongside those sleepless nights), not only for the fact that most of the food ends up on the wall but for that one major fear, is it small enough? Did I break it down enough? Not to mention all those toys we have with perfect mouth sized pieces. All of this and more will be enough to give any of us nightmares

Now for a bit of harsh reality……. Choking is the third most common cause of infant death in the UK, after road traffic accidents and house fires — killing an average of 24 under-fives a year in England and Wales.

Approximately half the population doesn’t know what to do if someone chokes. This is more worrying when you realise that when it does happen, you must act quickly — you have three to four minutes before death can occur.

Let’s look at the anatomy and reasons children choke so easily. The diameter of a child’s airway is approximately the diameter of their little finger……small isn’t it? Does that surprise you?

How do we recognise someone is choking?

If an adult or small child is choking you may see one or all of these behaviours.

Coughing or gagging

Hand signals and panic (sometimes pointing to the throat)

Sudden inability to talk

Panicked look in eyes.

Clutching the throat: The natural response to choking is to grab the throat with one or both hands. This is the universal choking sign and a way of telling people around you that you are choking.

Wheezing

Passing out

Turning blue: Cyanosis , a blue colouring to the skin, can be seen earliest around the face, lips, and fingernail beds. You may see this, but other critical choking signs would appear first.

INFANTS

If an infant is choking, more attention must be paid to an infant’s behavior. They cannot be taught the universal choking sign.
Difficulty breathing
Weak cry, weak cough, or Wheezing

Passing out

Turning blue: Cyanosis, a blue coloring to the skin, can be seen earliest around the face, lips, and fingernail beds. You may see this, but other critical choking signs would appear first.

WHAT TO DO? – ACT FAST

Mild choking: encourage them to cough. If the airway is only partly blocked, the person will usually be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe. They will usually be able to clear the blockage themselves.

Don’t put your fingers in their mouth to help them as they may bite you accidentally.

Severe choking (complete blockage)

back blows and abdominal thrusts
Where choking is severe, the person will not be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe. Without help, they will eventually become unconscious.

To help an adult or child over one year old:

Stand behind the person and slightly to one side. Support their chest with one hand. Lean the person forward so that the object blocking their airway will come out of their mouth, rather than moving further down.

Give up to five sharp blows between the person’s shoulder blades with the heel of your hand. (The heel is between the palm of your hand and your wrist). Check if the blockage has cleared.

If not, give up to five abdominal thrusts.

Important: Don’t give abdominal thrusts to babies under one year old or to pregnant women
Stand behind the person who is choking.
Place your arms around their waist and bend them forward.
Clench one fist and place it right above their belly button.
Put the other hand on top of your fist and pull sharply inwards and upwards.
Repeat this movement up to five times. Checking between each attempt to see if the blockage has cleared.
If the person’s airway is still blocked after trying back blows and abdominal thrusts, get help immediately:
Call 999 and ask for an ambulance. Tell the 999 operator that the person is choking.

Continue with the cycles of five back blows and five abdominal thrusts until help arrives.

If the person loses consciousness and they’re not breathing, you should begin cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with chest compressions at a rate of 30 chest compressions to 2 rescue breaths.

Infants under 1 year

Back blows for babies under one year

Sit down and lay your baby face down along your thighs, supporting their head with your hand.
Give up to five sharp back blows (checking between each one) with the heel of one hand in the middle of the back between the shoulder blades.

Back blows for children over one year

Lay a small child face down on your lap as you would a baby.
If this isn’t possible, support your child in a forward-leaning position and give five back blows from behind.
If back blows don’t relieve the choking and your baby or child is still conscious, give chest thrusts to infants under one year or abdominal thrusts to children over one year. This will create an artificial cough, increasing pressure in the chest and helping to dislodge the object.

Chest thrusts for children under one year instead of abdominal thrusts
Lay your baby face up along the length of your thighs.
Find the breastbone, and place two fingers in the middle.
Give five sharp chest thrusts (pushes), compressing the chest by about a third. Check between each thrust to see if the blockage has cleared.

If the obstruction has not cleared ring 999 and tell the operator the child is choking, continue until help arrives. If the child goes unconscious start CPR IMMEDIATELY. Five rescue breaths initially then 30 chest compressions to 2 rescue breaths.

Simple things we can all do will help avoid choking as is reasonably possible. This may sound like common sense and I can only apologise.

1. Cut food up into small pieces for small children. (Mash them up for ones younger than 2).
A big cause of choking is over confidence in a child’s ability to eat, Up to approximately the age of five children are still learning to chew. So even if they seem to be confident eaters it doesn’t hurt to be careful.
2. Watch them eating.

Children can be distracted easily whilst eating and not chew properly and suddenly swallow. Whilst the ability is there to eat it is still an infantile skill so can easily get stuck.
3. Avoid allowing them to eat whilst running around or in the car seat.
Here are some foods to be cautious of or even avoid in children younger than 4.
Hot dogs
Nuts and seeds

Chunks of meat or cheese

Whole grapes

Hard or sticky candy

Popcorn

Chunks of peanut butter

Chunks of raw vegetables

Chewing gum (obvious but common)

I can tell you from personal experience with my own children and the incidents I have dealt with it IS scary. The most important thing is to be confident in your ability to help. Know exactly what to do and when to call for help.
Be safe people……….

12 Top First Aid Tips Of Christmas (day 7) CROUP…..

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me.

A seal bark sounding baby😞

Ok day seven, and to be honest not sounding like the greatest of Christmas at the moment. Well thankfully this isn’t real. However if the occasions arises at least you will be able to help someone, and that is what counts. Only a short one today but never the less a very common problem that can be very frightening.

CROUP – What is it?

To give its medical name laryngotracheobronchitis (probably why it’s called croup, easier to say). Croup is a common childhood illness. It is sometimes called Laryngotracheobronchitis. Croup is most commonly caused by a viral infection (85% are viral in origin). The virus causes swelling and narrowing of the upper airways, voice box and windpipe which makes it difficult for your child to breathe and makes breathing noisy (causing a barking cough often described as a seal bark).

Croup usually affects children under five years of age, but can also affect older children and teenagers.Croup is very common during the autumn and early winter, probably due to the increased incidence of flu and cold viruses. Croup tends to occur during the night. This can be very frightening for YOU and your child.

How to recognise CROUP.

(Note this is a very poorly child in this instance call 999/112)

Difficult distressed breathing

A loud high pitched noise as the child breathes

A short ‘barking’ type cough

Pale clammy skin possibly blue tinges to lips

Use of muscles in the neck and upper chest to help breath

When to seek help?

There is a lot you can do yourself. But remember if you are at all worried ALWAYS seek medical advice.

Most children with croup can be cared for at home, as croup is usually a mild, self-limiting disease. There are things you can do to help your child feel more comfortable:

Stay calm and reassure your child

Offer your child their favourite drink in small, frequent amounts to keep him/her hydrated

Keep your child cool.

Give paracetamol or ibuprofen to help with the fever ( dose according tothe guidelines on the bottle)

Rest is very important, as activity may make symptoms worse. Tryreading, watching television or a DVD / video with your child.

if your child symptoms DO NOT ease, or if your child has blue tinged lips or a temperature call 999/112.

Be Safe……….

12 Top First Aid Tips Of Christmas (day 6) Heart Attack……

on the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.

An aspirin and trip to A &E.

So Heart attack!!!! What do you think of when you hear those two words? For most Those two words fill people with Fear. As soon as you hear heart attack, immediately they think of death. Quite rightly because if you do not recognise the symptoms it can rapidly lead to a cardiac arrest.

What is the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest?

a popular misconception is that they are one in the same. This is not true, whilst they are linked they are also two different entities.

Heart Attack

A heart attack happens when there is a narrowing/blockage in the arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle itself. The heart like any other muscle in the body needs a good supply of oxygen rich blood to survive. If this flow is interrupted then the muscle cells start to die making the heart less efficient in pumping. Eventually if this is not rectified it will stop completely (cardiac arrest).

Cardiac Arrest

A cardiac arrest is time critical and immediately life threatening condition. It can be caused by a number of factors including drugs, trauma and heart attacks. A cardiac arrest is defined as the cessation of the heart pumping blood around the body.

Signs and symptoms of a Heart Attack.

Heart attack symptoms vary from one person to another. The most common signs of a heart attack are:

chest pain

Chest tightness

heaviness in the chest

pain or a burning feeling in your chest

pain in arms

neck

jaw

back or stomach

for some people, the pain or tightness is severe, while other people just feel uncomfortable also they may experience

sweating

feeling light-headed

become short of breath

feeling nauseous or vomiting.

grey looking skin

clammy

Watch how quickly it can happen, it can happen anywhere and to anyone.

these symptoms are not exhaustive and if you suspect someone is having a heart attack you need to ring 999 for an ambulance.

Treatment

Call 999 or 112 for an ambulance and tell them you think someone is having a heart attack.

Make the person comfortable,

help move them into the most comfortable position.

The best position is on the floor leaning against a wall with knees bent and head and shoulders supported.

This should ease the pressure on their heart and stop them hurting themselves if they collapse.

Give them a 300mg aspirin, if available make sure they are not allergic to it by asking them, and tell them to chew it slowly.

Be aware that they may become unresponsive and collapse before help arrives if this happens

If they lose responsiveness at any point, stay clam and open their airway, check their breathing, and prepare to treat someone who has become unresponsive. You may need to do CPR. Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation at a rate of 30 chest compressions to 2 breaths.

Be Safe…………

12 Top First Aid Tips Of Christmas (Day 5) CPR & AED

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.

The skills for CPR & an AED……..

Not always the best subject and completely terrifying to a lot of people. What is CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

CPR is the mechanical manoeuvre required to give someone the best chance of survival when in cardiac arrest. It is designed to artificially pump blood round the body and oxygenated the blood.

What is an AED?

An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a portable device that checks the heart rhythm and can send an electric shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm. AEDs are used to treat sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). More and more are becoming publicly available. You can find them in supermarkets. Village centres, shopping centres etc……

So what do we do. We go back to basics like all medical professionals do.

DANGER

Check for danger to you or the patient make sure you and your patient are safe.

RESPONSE

check for a response, gently shake the shoulders and loudly ask “are you ok?”

AIRWAY

open the airway, place one hand on the forehead and two fingers under the chin and gently tilt the head back.

BREATHING

Lean near the mouth and check for breathing for no more than 10 seconds. Look for the chest to rise and fall, feel for breath on your cheek and listen for breath sounds.

(Note, in the first few minutes of cardiac arrest, the patient may make infrequent and noisy attempts to breath if in doubt start CPR).

CALL 999/112 and send someone for a defibrillator (if one is available).

 

How to do CPR.

Over the years CPR has changed and more recently it has been both improved and simplified to make it easy to remember. Watch tilly do CPR.

 

EVERYBODY gets the same ratio of 30 heat compressions to 2 rescue breaths. There are some slight changes for children but we will mention that in a moment.

CHEST COMPRESSIONS

kneel at the side of the patient .

Place the heel of your hand in the center of the chest, put your other hand on top and interlock the fingers.

Keep your arms straight, and position yourself vertically above the the patients chest.

Push down on the chest to a depth of approximately 5-6cm. Release the pressure without losing contact to the chest.

Do 30 chest compressions at a rate of approximately 100-120 per minute (yes the song staying alive has a rhythm similar to that).

Rescue Breaths

Once you have completed 30 chest compressions you need to do rescue breaths (mouth to mouth).

Pinch the soft part of the nose, also allowing the mouth to open whilst maintaining the chin lift.

Take a normal breath and seal your lips round the patients mouth.

Blown steadily into the patients mouth. At the same time watch for a ride and fall of the patients chest. Breath should be about 1 second.

Repeat this for the second breath. Once completed, with minimal delay put your hands back on the chest and continue CPR at a ratio of 30:2

30 chest compressions.

2 rescue breaths.

If an AED arrives, open it and switch it on. put the pads on the chest (follow the instructions) the pads will have a picture on where to place them. One on the upper right chest area and one on the left axillary area of the chest. Don’t worry if you place them the wrong way round the AED WILL STILL WORK. Follow the instructions.

Child & Baby CPR.

One reason children do not receive timely

CPR is the fear of hurting them. Firstly and most importantly the worst has already happened. Even if you do not know know child CPR, it is better to do the adult style than none at all on a child who is not responsive and not breathing.

The main differences are as follows.

Give children and babies 5 initial rescue breaths before starting CPR. After the initial rescue breaths continue with the ratio of 30:2.

Compress the chest approximately on third of its depth.

For babies instead of using the full hand, use 2 fingers (see below)

For children use one or two hands as required (see below)

Remember it is not uncommon for ribs to break during CPR.

Patients may also vomit during resuscitation. Turn them on their side let it drain out and continue.

These are the basics to help until the professionals arrive.

Be safe…………

12 First Aid Tips Of Christmas (Day 4) Febrile Convulsions

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.

The skills to make seizures not so scary…..

So this post is a little late as Mr Jingles and I have been helping Mrs KBT wrap all the presents for young KBT. Fighting through the boards of shoppers to get this years must have toys. Anyway here we go.

”Tis the season to be snotty tra la la la la la la la la. Yup as winter has set in those bugs love to set up home in all of us causing coughs and sniffles and generally unwell.

One thing that worries a lot of parents is temperatures in children when they are unwell. The main problem with the temperature is they can cause seizures in younger children (febrile convulsions).

To understand febrile convulsions it helps to understand the brain a little. In young children and babies, the part of the brain that regulates body temperature (the hypothalamus) is infantile and not yet fully developed. This in turn mean when the body has an infection the core temperature can reach dangerously high levels thus causing a seizure.

Nothing is more frightening to a parent than the inability to help their child. When they are unwell all they want to do is care for them. When a child has a febrile seizure although generally they do not last very long, the length of the seizure feels like a lifetime to a parent. This is further impacted when other symptoms along with the shaking/jerking appear. For example they may have stop breathing as the diaphragm goes rigid, with that the lips and face may go blue. Once the seizure finishes the go floppy. All of this will be terrifying. However there are a few things you can do in the first few minutes to help.

Firstly and most importantly TRY to stay calm for both you and your child.

Protect them from harm during the seizure.

Move objects that may cause harm from around them. Lay them on the floor if possible.

Pay particulate attention to protecting the head.

Remove outer clothing to help cool them down.

CALL 999/112 for emergency medical care

 

Tr and time the seizure (approximately).

Provide plenty of cool fresh air (fan for example)

Careful not to cool them too much.

Whilst help is on route. And once the seizure had stopped open the airway and check for breathing.

Look for chest movement.

Constantly monitor the child’s airway and breathing until further help arrives.

If possible put them in the recovery position.

Be safe…………..

12 First Aid Tips Of Christmas (day 3) DR ABC

On the Third day of Christmas my true love gave to me

The acronym DR ABC…….

I know right, I can hear you thinking this is one lucky guy. Not only does he have a beautiful fiancé, but she also gives him these amazing First aid gifts……

Ok so maybe that’s not the case, well about the first aid gifts anyway. However it is so important to have a plan of action when dealing with any emergency. Most times things go wrong when people panic and don’t have a plan.

So who is this Dr ABC I hear you say. It’s not a who but a what. It’s a plan of action when dealing with any patient. All medical professionals stick to this basic plan when dealing with an emergency, the only difference is they have more knowledge and skill to deal with it. If you follow these basic rules you will help massively until the professionals arrive.

D is for DANGER.

look for danger to yourself and the patient. Is it safe for you to approach them?

DON’T put yourself in danger one patient is enough.

R is for RESPONSE.

Quickly see is the patient is conscious

Of their eyes are closed gently tap the shoulders and ask loudly “are you ok?” You never know they may just be asleep.

If they are unconscious and on their back the AIRWAY could be at risk.

A is for AIRWAY.

Quickly identify any life threatening problems for example vomit in mouth

Choking, burns, anaphylaxis etc.

If they are unconscious tilt the head back to open the airway.

When the AIRWAY is open move on to BREATHING.

B is for BREATHING.

Again quickly identify any life threatening breathing problems for example asthma, chest injury, cardiac arrest etc….

If the patient is NOT conscious and NOT breathing, perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) watch Tilly doing CPR.

Once life threatening breathing problems have been ruled out or being treated, the next stage is CIRCULATION.

C is for CIRCULATION.

Look for and treat any life threatening circulatory problems such as severe bleeding, cardiac arrest, heart attack etc…..

Ok so your patient is alive but still poorly, if you haven’t already then call 999/112 and wait for help in the meantime keep going over DRABC as things may change and you need to be ready.

Mr Jingles would like to take the opportunity to thank Tilly for her help in showing you what he means.

Be safe………..

12 First Aid Tips Of Christmas (part 2) Bleeding.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me.

A bandage for my hurty knee.

OK day two, what can it be. Well let me tell you how to deal with bleeding so you don’t have to flee.

THE FIRST RULE OF BLEEDING

IT ALWAYS STOPS!!

Well it does eventually. Either you run out of the red stuff, or you stop it. The best outcome would be the latter as blood is meant to be on the inside.

So when to worry. Let’s first look at the types of bleeding.

Arterial – BAD this type of bleeding is easy to recognise as it is under direct pressure from the heart and squirts out.

Venous – Almost as bad. This type of bleeding is not under direct pressure but can still carry the same amount of blood. Trauma to a major vein can OOZE profusely.

Capillary – OMG call the helicopter, the army anyone, send everyone….. kidding, this type of bleeding is easily controlled and just trickles at best (a paper cut).

How much blood can you lose?

The human body is an amazing machine. It has the ability to compensate when things are going wrong, The quicker you stop the bleeding the better. Children have far less blood than adults.A person has approximately 0.5 litres of blood per 7 kg of body weight or one pint of blood per stone (although this does not increase if someone is over weight). An ‘average’ adult has roughly 10 pints / 6 litres of blood – if they lose about a 5th of their blood volume it can cause the body to shut down and go into shock. OK so now we need to deal with the bleeding. What do we do. Well that is entirely dependant on the type of bleeding. For example there is no point in pulling out the major trauma bag for a paper cut. At the same time a plaster won’t cut it for an arterial bleed. Follow these rules and you won’t go far wrong.

SIT OR LAY

Sit or lay the patient down appropriate to the location of the wound and extent of bleeding,

EXAMINE

quickly note the type of bleeding. Find out where it’s coming from so you can put direct pressure on the wound (if any foreign objects protruding put pressure round the wound or a pressure point).

PRESSURE

apply direct pressure continuously for 10 minutes. If embedded object put pressure round the wound.

DRESS

Cover the wound with a sterile dressing. You may be able to put a dressing on directly when putting pressure on. If the bleeding does not stop or the patient is pale, clammy Nauseous Or fall unconscious or if you are worried call 99/112 for emergency help.

PHEW!! that was a close call, we almost lost all the ketchup Mr Jingles is feeling much better after his ketchup accident.

Be safe……………

Twelve First Aid Tips of Christmas (part 1)

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to meeeee.

A blue inhaler to help me breeeeathe.

here we are as promised the first of the 12 first aid tips of Christmas. Mr Jingles has been working hard to help you enjoy the Christmas period, but should something happen you will know how to help.

He Has discovered from Asthma UK  Asthma sufferers are being encouraged to wear a scarf over their nose and mouth to prevent asthma attacks this winter.

Breathing in cold, damp air can make the airways tighten and trigger an attack in three out of four people, charity Asthma UK says. This can leave people coughing, wheezing and gasping for breath. The charity’s #Scarfie campaign says “a scarf can save a life” but it’s not a replacement for asthma medicines.

What is Asthma

Asthma is a long-term condition that affects your airways – the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. You could say that someone with asthma has ‘sensitive’ airways that are inflamed and ready to react when they come into contact with something they don’t like.

Asthma tends to run in families, especially when there’s also a history of allergies and/or smoking

.

how can you recognise it?

• The person will have difficulty in breathing
• Breathing may sound wheezy.
• they may have difficulty speaking (will need to take a breath in the middle of a sentence).
• Pale, Clammy skin.
• Grey or Blue lips and skin (if the attack is severe).
• use of extra muscles in the neck and upper chest when breathing.
• Exhaustion in a severe attack.
• may become unconscious and stop breathing in a prolonged attack.

How do i help treat them

Sit them upright, leaning on a chair or table may help support them

help the person to use their reliever (blue) inhaler. use every couple of minutes if the attack does not ease.

Winter time is especially difficult as cold air can make the attack worse, try not to take them out in the cold air.

TOP TIP if you have to go outside use a scarf wrapped round the nose and mouth loosely as this will help warm the air being inhaled.

CALL 999/112 if the patient does not have their inhaler or it is not having an effect.

Try and keep the patient upright – only lay them down if they become unconscious.

If they stop breathing IMMEDIATELY START CPR – Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

Mr Jingles hopes this goes some way to help you and hopes you will be back tomorrow to find out how else you can help if the need arises.

Be Safe…………………………………………

12 FIRST AID TIPS OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man’s hat

If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do

If you haven’t got a ha’penny, then God bless you!

If you hadn’t noticed Christmas is on its way, yes folks that means time to eat way too much, time to invite round the relatives and spend time with everyone. Appreciate the important things in life “FAMILY”.

With that in mind “Mr Jingles” has kindly made time in his busy Christmas schedule to Join us here at KBT First Aid Training as our newest “ELF” & Safety and First Aid instructor.

Starting on the 12th of December he will be posting one first aid tip a day to help us out until Christmas when he then has whizz back and start his own 12 days.

So we hope you will join us and spread the word. Let’s all be safe and look after each other

Be safe………………