CPR

Now my dad is a tall guy, about six foot something. So, therefore he needs to eat more than the average, but everytime he eats he chokes. There is not one meal he eats without the sound of a dying cat going through his lips and hacking up a lung. We all laugh at him at the dinner table and he gets a bright tomato face. It takes him a few minutes to get the food out, but he lives. Never a too serious form of choking to "death". He was in a stage 1 CPR.

 CPR is divided up into 3 stages. Stage 1 is just choking out the food and getting it unstuck from the windpipe and your fine. Stage 2 is when things are serious. After someone can't get the food out or talk/cough then someone who is CPR certified needs to give them the heimlich maneuver to get it out. Stage 3 is the most dangerous level of choking for assistance. It means that the person is unconscious and not breathing. You have to give them mouth to mouth resuscitation and give them chest pumps in intervals until the ambulance comes to take over.

Believe me, CPR is more important than you think. It will save lives and you will never know when you may need that knowledge. I know that I'm sure glad my mom knew CPR. A couple of years ago, I was choking on a cough drop (ironically) and was clenching my throat and couldn't breath. My mom ran over to me and gave me the heimlich and with one squeeze the cough drop was evacuated.