Contributed by:
angie valencia/valleynews.com
on 7/26/2007
As a new parent, I've had a couple of close calls with baby
Frank.
Approaching the half-birthday mark, my son seems awfully interested in food. My husband
Fernando and I let him "taste" nearly everything. It's hard not to when you see his excitement by opening his eyes wide and salivating.
Our worst close call happened a couple of weeks ago when his aunt
Evelyn let him suck on a plump, bright red strawberry. He sucked on that thing so hard you'd think he was a vacuum cleaner.
We all laughed, but then the laughter turned into panic. Frank had managed to get the entire strawberry in his mouth. Evelyn went numb for a couple of seconds before sticking her fingers in his tiny mouth and yanking the strawberry out.
That got me thinking of the importance of learning infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and chocking prevention. There are an abundance of helpful resources out there: magazines, books and most notably, hospitals.
According to Teri Rice, of Verdugo Hills Hospital, 1 percent of the population knows CPR.
"If you're thinking other people will help you if there's a problem, that is not going to happen," said Rice, the hospital's family education program coordinator. "The second major reason is if you're talking about CPR, once someone stops breathing their brain cells start to die in four to six minutes. You have a short period of time to act. The average response time for paramedics is longer than that.
"When we do CPR, we're buying time. We're keeping the baby and child brain cells alive until better help gets there."
The Verdugo Hills Hospital offers a Beginnings Family Education Program that teaches infant CPR for new or expectant parents, their families and care providers.
Using the American Heart Association guidelines, this three-hour course provides specialized CPR training, including infant resuscitation and choking maneuvers. Infant (up to one year) CPR also offers information about electrical safety, water safety poison prevention and general household hazards.
Such classes are vital for any parent. The classes at Verdugo Hospital, at 1812 Verdugo Blvd., Glendale, are taught twice a month and are limited to 12 couples. The class fee is $30 per person.
Such infant classes, Rice said, have grown in popularity primarily because of infant chocking, which is common at Frank's age.
After our strawberry and mango scare, I will be signing up for classes at my local hospital.
"Parents want to know what to do if something happens," said Rice.
I agree!
For those parents who can't take a class, here is an informative page from
Parenting magazine showing how to properly administer CPR to an infant:
CPR Basics
For more information on the Verdugo Hospital program, call (818) 952-2272. For a list of classes offered by the Family Education Program, please visit
www.vhhospital.org/community_edclasses.asp.
You may also visit the
American Red Cross Web site to learn about infant and child CPR programs available in your area.