Dr. Heimlich used the heimlich manuever for the first time on a fellow resident in the retirement community he resides in:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/health/Dr-Heimlich-Now-96-Uses-His-Technique-for-the-First-Time--381105671.html
Dr. Heimlich used the heimlich manuever for the first time on a fellow resident in the retirement community he resides in:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/health/Dr-Heimlich-Now-96-Uses-His-Technique-for-the-First-Time--381105671.html
That's awesome! It's a real split second decision making moment when "time to Heimlich" comes around. I like to think I'd be ready but it's hard to know. At 44 years old I've seen it done exactly once.
Cool.
Had it done once on me, and I actually needed it. Strange sensation feeling the obstruction come up out of the wind pipe.
foxtrapper wrote: Cool. Had it done once on me, and I actually needed it. Strange sensation feeling the obstruction come up out of the wind pipe.
Fill in the blanks yourself...
I've administered the Heimlich AT LEAST three times. It might be four times, they start to run together after a while.
That is usually the "fun fact about yourself" that I use in team building exercises. Mostly I take it to mean that people get all choked up around me often.
In each case it never felt like it worked that smoothly - it worked every time, it just always felt like I was hammering away at their abdomen and it wasn't going to solve anything. But then out pops the obstruction.
That's cool, Mezz. Never seen it done out in the wild.
Oh, and the "fun fact about yourself" I used recently: I was a professional radio-telegrapher for a year and a half.
I had to use it on my former stepson when he was three. He ran to his room in a strange fashion, so I got up to see what it was about. When I called his name he turned around and his face was completely purple with tears running down his cheek. I spun him around and started the heimlich. It took about 4 hits and a chunk of food flew out of his mouth. Hearing him take that huge gasp of air afterwards was music to my ears. He cried big time and heck, I did too. It was genuinely terrifying for the both of us.
In reply to Spoolpigeon: good job!
Fun personal fact that's related (I guess). I've done CPR 16 times.
And it worked equally well every time. 
I had to Heimlich my daughter a few months ago. It worked but scared the E36 M3 out of me. You do what you have to do, eh?
Mezzanine wrote: I've administered the Heimlich AT LEAST three times. It might be four times, they start to run together after a while.
What do you do? Do you work for some sort of irresponsible steak eating organization or in the competitive eating contest tour? Do you hang around the Old Country Buffet nearest the old folks home? Or do you just throw the squeeze on anybody who coughs funny during a meal whether they choke or not? Inquiring minds and all that...
Huckleberry wrote:Mezzanine wrote: I've administered the Heimlich AT LEAST three times. It might be four times, they start to run together after a while.What do you do? Do you work for some sort of irresponsible steak eating organization or in the competitive eating contest tour? Do you hang around the Old Country Buffet nearest the old folks home? Or do you just throw the squeeze on anybody who coughs funny during a meal whether they choke or not? Inquiring minds and all that...
I'm damn glad I wasn't eating right now! I certainly would have choked over that comment & there's no one here to give me the Heimlich... 
I had to do the Heimlich maneuver on a guy in a restaurant a few years ago. I was there with my family and I heard a bunch of people saying "Choking! Choking!"
The first try didn't do it. I really had to lift him right off the floor, but then the chunk of food shot right out.
We have to get trained at work every year but that was the first time I ever had to do it. Usually people are already unconscious by the time we see them.
One of the things they teach you is to ask "Are you choking?" before you do the Heimlich. If the person can say "Yes", then they're not really choking. So I asked this guy "Are you choking?" and his wife kept saying, "YES! Yes he's choking!". I told her to shut up for a minute because I was trying to ask him. All he could do was nod so I knew it was the real deal.
The entire episode only took about 20 seconds but the whole restaurant was in chaos. I know every restaurant is required by law to hang the Heimlich sign somewhere, but none of the employees had any idea what to do. Afterwards, they were asking me what they should do next.
After all that, you would think the place would have comped my dinner or at least sent over a round of drinks or something, but nope. The guy and his family never even said thank you before they left, and they stayed and finished their meal first.
Fun. Not anything I've had to do in my time with the ambulance squad. Although my B-I-L had to do it to my uncle at my wedding.
Not to diminish the medical advantages of this spectacular procedure, but Annie brought this to my attention:
Two hillbillies walk into a restaurant. While having a bite to eat, they talk about their moonshine operation. Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. After a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress. One of the hillbillies looks at her and says, 'Kin ya swallar?' The woman shakes her head no. Then he asks, 'Kin ya breathe?' The woman begins to turn blue, and shakes her head no. The hillbilly walks over to the woman, lifts up her dress, yanks down her drawers, and quickly gives her right butt cheek a lick with his tongue. The woman is so shocked that she has a violent spasm, and the obstruction flies out of her mouth.As she begins to breathe again, the Hillbilly walks slowly back to his table. His partner says, 'Ya know, I'd heerd of that there 'Hind Lick Maneuver' but I ain't niver seed nobody do it!'
This is obviously humor, and in no way should diminish the work of the good Doc Heimlich.
Huckleberry wrote:Mezzanine wrote: I've administered the Heimlich AT LEAST three times. It might be four times, they start to run together after a while.What do you do? Do you work for some sort of irresponsible steak eating organization or in the competitive eating contest tour? Do you hang around the Old Country Buffet nearest the old folks home? Or do you just throw the squeeze on anybody who coughs funny during a meal whether they choke or not? Inquiring minds and all that...
Nope, nothing exciting at all! Seems like every occasion was just a coincidence. Here are the four times I've done it:
I was in high school and worked as a lifeguard. I was with some classmates at Taco Bell getting a bite to eat when a friend started to choke on her nachos. She gave the international symbol of choking in short order, and I went for it. Corn chips don't come flying out like other food obstructions. She reported a really sore throat from the chip scraping along. She was only reasonably grateful.
College, hanging out in the photo lab. Classmate was eating a hot dog from the cafeteria and started to choke. All the usual signals. Four other classmates stood around looking stunned, I spun her around an two good thrusts was all it took to launch that dog halfway across the room. She was very grateful.
Restaurant about 8 years ago. Guy at another table starts to choke just as I was on my way out. Whole restaurant froze as they watched him start to turn purple. On my way by, I casually gave a few thrusts of our favorite maneuver. Didn't feel or hear anything clear, but it must have. I left when he started breathing, without waiting for any gratitude.
Daughter, age 2 or 3. Eating dinner, she started to choke. Two very light thrusts since she was just inside of the acceptable age and body size range for the Heimlich. Didn't feel like a clean pop, but she started to breathe again. Took a lot of coughing to clear totally. She was mad at me.
In reply to KyAllroad:
I've only done CPR once. It was not successful. Old guy, heart attack in the locker room when I was a lifeguard.
In reply to Mezzanine:
CPR really just buys some time until the patient can get more advanced care. In most cases, it is not successful. CPR saves are pretty rare.
Yep, CPR just buys time to (hopefully) shock, and even then odds are pretty poor. I've done CPR and shocked more than a few, but I've only known one who made it back home alive.
Yeah, that was back in 1998 or 1999, and they were NOT good about sharing the success rate in the training then. Also before AEDs were common items.
The last couple times I've updated my CPR and first responder training, they made it abundantly clear what your purpose was when doing CPR: trying to keep some oxygenated blood moving through the brain in hopes of bringing them back with more advanced care. AEDs (and the much more common placement of them in public spaces) seem to have brought the success numbers up substantially.
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