Girl Scouts: Heimlich Heroes

"According to Injury Facts 2017, choking is the fourth leading cause of unintentional injury death. Of the 5,051 people who died from choking in 2015, 2,848 were older than 74. Food is often responsible for choking incidents in the elderly. Living alone, and having dentures or difficulty swallowing can increase risk".Sep 6, 2018

https://www.nsc.org/home-safety/safety-topics/choking-suffocation

One of the many amazing programs we have done with our Girl Scout troop is Heimlich Heroes!
https://heimlichheroes.com/

I discovered this program from one of the Girl Scout Facebook groups I participate in. We've used the program twice as part of our Brownie and Junior First Aid Badge badges.

The program is absolutely amazing and comes with a plethora of materials! It appears, the program may have changed a smidge since we used them. The first time, the program was free and the second time, there was a donation requested to cover the expense.Now there is a free digital option or for a small fee, printed material. Swag and patches are available for a fee as well. The dolls can be purchased or rented.

Either way, the materials provided was through and age-appropriate. For a fee, Heimlich Heroes offers a 3 foot doll with a mouth opening and foam to use as a piece of food. The dolls are internally designed so that will you administer the Heimlich maneuver correctly, the piece of food pops out. The dolls are designed to be as challenging to use as it would be for a real-life adult or child, and they were. It did indeed take a fair amount of effort and even as an adult, I was not successful every time. My co-leader, who is an ER nurse, struggled as well.

While the practice of the Heimlich maneuver was important, my co-leader and I felt teaching our younger girls to look for signs of choking and to call for help was the most vital lesson.

Knowing choking is such a high cause of death, it is vitally important to recognize the signs of choking and how to administer the Heimlich maneuver is beneficial to everyone. The cost of renting the dolls may be too high for one troop, but certainly would be appropriate for a service unit badge day or a school or after-school program. This tool would also be valuable in the workplace as well. One can never learn or practice too much first aid.