Emergency... What do you do?

A 7-year-old child is playing on the playground and begins to choke and point at his throat as if to say he is choking. The first thing we must do as a teacher is to respond immediately and remain calm. The next step is to make sure the student stays calm as well, and in that time being sure to diagnose what the child could have possibly been choking on by asking those who were near him at the time. If necessary to do so, I would then proceed to give the Heimlich maneuver to try and dislodge the article the child has swallowed. If that doesn’t work then we make the call to the proper emergency crews to make sure the child gets to a place where they can remove what it is he is choking on.

A 4-year-old girl is playing on the swings when she falls off backwards and landed on her head. She is unconscious and in need of help as soon as possible. The first thing we do is check for a pulse. Staying calm and in control we make sure we know exactly what happened as we call the paramedics to the scene. We then try to wake the girl, but there is no response. So we begin to do CPR on her as we await the arrival of the paramedics to take over from there.

Advance planning is so very important because we never know when and what might happen any day with children. We must be qualified to perform CPR and other safety procedures required by the state so that a child and their parents are secure that their safe in our supervision. Without being prepared for a situation, we could have a problem arise, and we are so unprepared and don’t know what to do that the child dies and then the school and we as a teacher might be in a lot of trouble and even lose our jobs. I believe that every teacher should know the Heimlich maneuver, CPR and also be certified to give CPR, not just know what it is.

Adults must be prepared and have the correct supplies near by as we never know when we will need the skills and supplies to save a life. As adults, we should familiarize ourselves with the different supplies that are used to help keep burns from becoming worse, keeping a bleeding person from bleeding too much, and even just knowing how to make sure a bloody nose gets cleaned up properly. Because a bloody nose is bound to happen when you have boys playing together. The last thing that is vital to an adult being prepared for any situation is for that adult to be understanding and know that children are going to get hurt, it is a natural thing and being to afraid of it will cause the adult to not be prepared or capable of helping when a child is in need of emergency care.