Australia: Stranger Saves Girl In Supermarket

I thought this was a nice bit of news to read first thing this morning amongst the usual doom and gloom...

A builder has been praised after he resuscitated a child who had collapsed and stopped breathing while out shopping with her mother in Australia. CCTV footage shows two-year-old Shaylar's mother, Amy Collard, carrying her to a counter of a Perth supermarket to plead for help after she had lost consciousness before running outside to find her husband, Michael Narkle.

A couple, including tradesman Rowan O'Neill, can then be seen rushing to help the stricken girl - and fearing she was choking, Mr O'Neill turned her upside down in an effort to revive her. When Mr Narkle enters the store, he can be seen breaking down before he and Mr O'Neill try to save Shaylar by shaking her, patting her on the back and attempting the Heimlich manoeuvre.

When this fails, Mr O'Neill begins mouth-to-mouth resuscitation - and after 90 seconds the girl opened her eyes, local media said.

Australia: Stranger Saves Girl In Supermarket

Everyone should know basic first aid IMO, you can bet your life the time you need it most, the emergency services will not be around.

My first experience of this was when i was 12, a friend of mine was messing about on a train station and fell, putting his arm through a window, severing his wrist. Everyone just stood and did nothing, panicking and not knowing what to do. All except an off duty Royal Navy guy who calmly sat my mate down, applied pressure, took his t-shirt off and applied it as a bandage and raised his arm until the ambulance got there. I have no doubt that without that quick thinking, my mate would have died.



CX.

reply to post by CX

Everyone should know basic first aid IMO...

Totally agree with your assertion.

Yet, without knowing the symptoms that the child was presenting at the time, the video is an example of how not to administer First Aid.

I'd go so far as to say that the positive outcome was more by chance, rather than well formed First Aid principles applied.

reply to post by CX


I have children. That reduced me to tears. Thank god I know CPR.

I learned first aid last year at work and I hope I never have to use it and in reply to an earlier poster the girl is alive
and without the Tradey she wouldn't be. If you were faced with that situation rules go out the door unless your an experience paramedic. He did what he has probably learned and he probably forgot a few things but she's alive and that is all that matters.

reply to post by Perhaps


Yeah i can see your point, but the camera angle makes it hard to see if he did the couple of things that i would have brought up.....the sweep of the mouth and checking the airway to see if anything was lodged.....and tilting the head back.

We were always taught that if you suspected that something was blocking the airway but you couldn't remove it, try and give breaths anyway. You may dislodge it, yes it would go down the wrong way, but that can be dealt with. Death is slightly harder to deal with.

At the end of the day though, he got breaths into that little girl and it worked. In a rel life environment away from the classroom, you just do what you can do with what you have.

CX.

Given the amount of time bought when performing CPR, there's no excuse to not know it and simulaneouly call yourself a responsible parent. It's right there next to the Heimlich maneuver in the list of basic care that people who aren't medically trained can offer to each other.

Originally posted by Turkenstein
reply to post by CX

 

I have children. That reduced me to tears. Thank god I know CPR.

I know what you mean.

First thing i did when i had my two girls was to go and seek out a first aid course aimed at first aid for babies and children. I ended up doing the Royal Life Saving Society course at the local recreation centre, also covered water first aid for the likes of swimming, drowning and that kind of thing.

Was a great refresher, but more a case of reassurance for the family.

CX.

Originally posted by Perhaps
reply to post by CX

 

Everyone should know basic first aid IMO...

Totally agree with your assertion.

Yet, without knowing the symptoms that the child was presenting at the time, the video is an example of how not to administer First Aid.

I'd go so far as to say that the positive outcome was more by chance, rather than well formed First Aid principles applied.

How could anyone view this video and have something bad to add?

By chance, maybe, but in the event that nobody has taken a CPR course. (Most people aren't stupid), the worse thing you could do is stand there with your hands in your pockets.

Bottom line, the child was not breating, if nobody did anything the child would have died.

The man and his wife, deserve a pat on the back for their action's and not panicking.

The key in a sititution like that is not to panic, keep a clear head.

Just a few things,
The guy did do the right thing by inverting her and trying to dislodge a foreign object, when that didn't present anything, he did the CPR.
In a child you NEVER do a blind finger sweep, if you see something, you attempt to take it out, if you do a blind finger sweep, the chances are if something is lodged there, it can be pushed back, further lodging whatever's there.
I'm a former EMT, and other medics out there, should verify what I just said

What He said......
Good on em!

reply to post by HomerinNC


You are absolutely correct, I'm currently a Paramedic in NC. As an EMT you know all CPR guidelines are through AHA and the last time they changed the guidelines were in either 2010 or 2011. They are ever changing but yes the blind fingersweep is the wrong thing to do incase you push the object further into the trachea. Perfom the heimlich maneuver which is different depending on age, or as soon as the child becomes unconscious start chest compressions. The ratio of compressions to ventilations varies on the age also. You were very correct Homer

With that being said, the video is great. Whether he acted wrong or not, this childs life was saved. Beautiful post!

CX: The UK may fall under different standards but here it was always a joke through medic class that if their is a foreign body abstruction in the airway, that if you couldn't reach it with forceps, then to try and push it into one of the main stems that way you could at least bag one lung. This is was a joke btw.

Originally posted by HomerinNC

In a child you NEVER do a blind finger sweep, if you see something, you attempt to take it out, if you do a blind finger sweep, the chances are if something is lodged there, it can be pushed back, further lodging whatever's there.
I'm a former EMT, and other medics out there, should verify what I just said

Hi Homer.....yeah sorry, we were told to take a look and if you see anything, fish it out with a finger sweep. Only if you saw something though.

Thanks for the info though, always good to hear from someone more knowledgeable.

Just out of interest Homer, is there one first aid panel that dictates changes to procedures worldwide, or would the US do things differently than the UK and likewise around the world? I know techniques have changed over the years, i guess thats due to new research and experience.

When i first started years ago for example, it was 15 compressions to 2 breaths for CPR, then it changes about half a dozen times, then i've heard people saying don't worry about the breaths any more, just do compressions.

Gets a big confusing with all the mixed messages.

CX.

reply to post by CX


Wow - so happy that they saved the girl - I cannot imagine that happening to me, scary. One thing that came to mind when people were discussing the various first aid and CPR techniques was something that I've heard about being done in other countries, and it actually worked. If a child has drowned, and its lungs are full of water, they usually grab the child by the feet and begin to spin/turn around really fast in a circle, like the child is the "blade on a helicopter" type of movement, and the centrifugal force causes the water to flow out from the lungs and they regain consciousness. I even heard a story of a child who drowned in a well, and the mother took the child and tied him to a wooden wheel used for some purpose in the village, and began to spin the child on it to get the water out of the lungs, and the child came back to life. You just never know...

reply to post by CX


Already know CPR

but