Nine-year-old Tiffany Gaither of Hueytown, Ala., sat in
her bedroom watching TV and eating a hot dog while her
parents were in the den. Seconds later, she began to
gasp for breath; a piece of meat had gotten lodged in
her windpipe. Though her parents came running in and
quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver, the hot dog
didn't budge, and Tiffany started turning blue.
The Gaithers immediately called 911. The dispatcher
explained how to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
and sent an ambulance. Tiffany's father was able to get
enough air into her lungs to keep her alive until
paramedics arrived and removed the hot dog with a
laryngoscope.
Tiffany was taken to the emergency room for observation,
but her parents had saved her life.
When an emergency strikes, parents have to make quick
decisions: whether to phone the doctor, call 911, or
take their child to the emergency room themselves.
Knowing which step to take could save your child's life
-- and ensure better treatment. "If a child is not in a
life-or-death situation, her own doctor will likely be
able to see her sooner than an overwhelmed ER," points
out Charles Welborn, M.D., F.A.A.P., chief of pediatric
emergency services at Harlem Hospital in New York City.
Emergency rooms today are inundated with children whose
families, lacking health insurance, turn to hospitals
for routine care. A child with a sprained ankle could
wait hours in a crowded city emergency room. In suburban
areas, treatment may be faster, although hospitals all
over the country have cut back staff and seen their
services suffer in recent years. Read on for information
that will save valuable time should an accident occur
and help your child get top-quality care.
