Two-year-old boy risks suffocation, saved by the sudden intervention of an officer of the Cremona State Police: it happened on the evening of Thursday 18 April 2024.
2-year-old boy risks suffocation
On the evening of Thursday 18 April 2024, the Cremona State Police he performed a heroic gesture, saving the life of a two-year-old child from potential suffocation.
During a normal patrol of the territory, the staff of the Flying Squad of the General Prevention and Public Relief Office (UPGSP) was attracted by a woman’s desperate cries for help, whose origins were unclear.
Immediately, the officers they started looking for the source of the screamssoon spotting a visibly agitated woman on a second-floor balcony of a home, who she was holding an apparently lifeless child in her arms. The woman, in a panic, he waved the child’s still body towards the officersshouting phrases in a foreign language and crying.
Saved by an agent
Fearing for the child’s life, Flying Squad personnel entered the building and found the woman in a state of extreme agitation, with the child unconscious and the skin of the face a bluish-purple colorsign of one lack of oxygen in the blood.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the officers immediately called the 118 health personnel and one of their own performed the airway unblocking maneuverknown as “Heimlich maneuver”, to try to get the child to recover. After several attempts, the child gradually regained consciousness, coughing and cryinga sign of an improvement in his condition.
Another minor was present in the house: a 4 year old girl scared for her little brother’s safety. Once the situation stabilizedthe Flying Squad personnel accompanied the mother and her children to the emergency room for further checks.
The Heimlich maneuver
First of all it is good to point out that the maneuver can also be carried out by people without medical skills, but you must make sure to call for help immediately. THE signals that require the unblocking maneuver are:
- the person puts their hands around their throat (suggesting they are choking)
- the person’s face turns blue, due to oxygen deprivation
How the maneuver is carried out
The person practicing the maneuver he stands behind the one who is choking, wrapping his arms around her waist, under the arms. One hand is folded with a closed fist and is placed with the thumb part flattened against the abdomen in the area between the sternum and the navel. The other hand grasps the fist and causes a series of rapid and deep upward thrusts until the object blocking the airway is expelled. The thrusts should never compress or tighten the rib cage, but only the soft part of the abdomen. The new guidelines of European Resuscitation Council involve alternating 5 subdiaphragmatic compressions and 5 dorsal blows between the shoulder blades.
Even about themselves
It’s possible practice the Heimlich maneuver on yourself too, using the same technique: one hand is closed into a fist and placed against your abdomen while the other grabs it and pushes it upwards with a series of thrusts until the airway is freed.
The professionals from Pavia nel Cuore explained to us that “The clearing maneuvers must be carried out only in cases of complete obstruction, if the person speaks badly or makes sounds it means that air is passing through and in this case you need to keep an eye and wait for help (partial or incomplete obstruction). Practicing maneuvers in case of partial obstruction can lead to the mobilization of the foreign body during inspiration and therefore worsen the situation. The maneuvers described should only be carried out in case of complete obstruction to a conscious personwhen the person loses consciousness, cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers must be performed exactly as in the case of cardiac arrest given that, in fact, we are faced with an unconscious person who is not breathing”.
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