Can you save your child? An EMT's guide to handling emergencies
A local EMT on what to do if your child is poisoned, drowning, choking, in a car accident, or having an allergic reaction.
It happened fast, just the other day. A mom in Keyport was polishing her nails when her 2-year-old daughter grabbed the bottle of nail polish and took a swig.
The mom called 9-1-1 and Sharon Kirby-Magill responded.
“The child was fine,” said Kirby-Magill, an emergency medical technician with Keyport First Aid. “It was a minimal amount. But you don’t ever take any chances.”
As a member of the New Jersey Emergency Medical Services Task Force, Kirby-Magill has seen and heard it all. So what advice would she have for parents dealing with the most common types of emergencies? Here is he breakdown:
- “Keep the poison control number around your house. Poison control will give you instructions on what to do based on what the child drank.
- “You need to have an idea of how much they ingested.Keep the packaging (of the chemical they ingested) with you. The package will go along with the EMS personnel.”
- “Whatever you do, don’t give them anything to drink or try to induce vomiting until you speak to a medical professional. With some chemicals, you need to induce vomiting. With some, you need to dilute with water. Inducing vomiting with caustic chemicals could burn the already injured esophagus.”
Drowning and near drowning
- “Near drowning is always a hospital visit because they become hypoxic — they lose oxygen. Pull them from the pool and lay them on their side to try to let the fluids drain out.”
- “With the activation of 9-1-1, an emergency medical dispatcher will actually talk you through what to do in near-drowning.”
- “If you’ve pulled them out (of the water), don’t move them around because that can cause cardiac issues. Keep them as still as possible. A dispatcher will ask if they’re breathing. If they’re not breathing, the dispatcher will give you instructions to do CPR.”
- “See if the child is acting appropriately. Don’t assume they are OK. Err on the side of caution and let 9-1-1 come and check out your child.”
- “Even if we think the child is OK, we ask the parent to please follow up with their pediatrician immediately. Children tend to compensate (for injuries) for a longer period of time than most adults. You may not see a problem in your child until later.”
- “Once a (car) seat’s been involved in a collision, it cannot be used again. Now it’s compromised.”
- “Your local police department can help make sure your child’s safety seat is installed appropriately.”
- “There’s a difference between a simple allergic reaction, which is a rash and swelling, and a life-threatening allergic reaction. It’s not just bee stings; it could be from food allergies or any type of allergen.”
- “First, remove them from the environment that the allergen is in.”
- “If the child has an EpiPen, don’t be afraid to use it based on instructions from their doctor. But many people do not realize, if you’ve given an injection to your child, then the reaction is serious enough to go the hospital. An EpiPen only has a 15-minute half-life. After 15 minutes the reaction can recur or return.”
- “In a severe allergic reaction, when the airway is compromised, don’t take a chance driving the child. Call 9-1-1. We can use our own dose within 10 minutes of an EpiPen’s use if it hasn’t improved their condition.”
- “What I tell people who ask me, ‘Should I take my child to the hospital?’ is, ‘If something happens on the way, what can you do for them? If there’s nothing you can do, let EMS take them.”
- “Older people know how to give the sign they are choking — put their hands to their neck. Children don’t know, so you need to look for signs.”
- “If there’s an inability to speak or to move air in and out, they are going to start to turn blue and eventually pass out. The Heimlich maneuver is a simple maneuver you can Google online and learn how to do. Your local first aid squad is also willing to teach you what you need to know.”
- “If a child can cough or speak, even if it’s a grumble, you do not need to do the Heimlich maneuver. Encourage them to stay calm and keep coughing. If they’re getting any air in and out, do not do the Heimlich because you can re-block the airway.”
- “Once a choking victim passes out, now they become a CPR victim. Before you give them breath, look into their mouth and see if the obstructing piece is in their mouth. Turn their head to the side and see if you can swipe the piece out with a small finger.”
Most important: stay calm
For any dire situation, Kirby-Magill said, activating the emergency response system is the most important step. Sometimes a caller will have to answer two round so questions from different people.
“The secondary will further question people about what happened so they can better determine what level of response is needed, but people should know that once they make that first 9-1-1 call, help is already on the way and do not panic.”
“Remaining calm is the most important thing for a parent, and it’s probably the hardest thing to do.”
The Keyport First Aid Squad is hosting the annual Bayshore EMS Cadet Competition June 9-10 at Keyport Central School. The bulk of the event, including two medevac helicopter landings, is open to the public June 10.
Staff writer Jerry Carino: email@example.com.