The Important Hacks In Case Of Emergency and Choking

Sometimes, we have all witnessed what it is like to have something choking your throat. It can prove to be fatal if nothing is done on time. In such cases, reducing the risks of fatal results, having a device that helps in such emergency cases to remove the choked particle, is actually a blessing. Lifevac produces devices with superior mechanisms that help in such emergency cases. Be it children who put down objects in their mouth, or senior citizens, Lifevac comes down to the rescue. Also, it is a common thing that in restaurants, people tend to eat in a haphazard way and it causes a kind of restaurant choking. This causes the person to choke on the food they eat, blocking respiration and making them impossible to breathe normally.

Lifevac comes with a guideline as to how and when the device is supposed to be used, that is a must when used in emergency cases. It is always advised that one practices the device in a non-emergency case so as to hold control and confidence over the working of the device.

There are many cases of death due to choking that has been on rising in the recent times, when not only children, every age group has become vulnerable to choking. Emergency care for choking is a must and every family or authority should be able to handle the emergency situations aptly. Hence, to avoid fatal consequences, Lifevac has evolved out to be the most trusted of all the emergency kits and have been under the 'MUST HAVE' list of every family and restaurants and so on. 

LifeVac Review - Choking Rescue Device (Public Access)

Lifevac Review- Can New Devices Match Heimlich to Stop Choking?

LifeVac and Dechoker pose alternative to abdominal thrusts

The Ache: Nearly 5,000 people a year die from choking in the U.S., according to the nonprofit National Safety Council.

The Claim: Two new easy-to-use devices work like plungers to suck out obstructions in the airway, providing another option if standard treatment—such as abdominal thrusts developed in 1974 by Henry Heimlich—fail to clear the airway, say the companies who sell them.

The Verdict: A recently published laboratory study showed the LifeVac, from LifeVac LLC of Springfield Gardens, N.Y., dislodged simulated obstructions. So far there haven’t been any scientific publications detailing lives saved with the LifeVac or another device, from Dechoker LLC, of Salisbury, N.C.

Both the Dechoker, $89.95, and the LifeVac, $69.95, have a plastic mask that provides a seal over the mouth and nose while suction is provided. The Dechoker looks like a large syringe, while the LifeVac’s plunger is shaped like a small accordion. In both devices, one-way valves allow air to only travel out of the mask and not into it, which avoids pushing the object deeper in, says LifeVac Chief Executive Arthur Lih.

While the devices “theoretically” could work, there isn’t enough evidence for them, says New Orleans physician Jay Kaplan, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. There are a number of potential pitfalls, including whether a panicking choking victim would let a rescuer put a mask on the mouth, he adds.

Early adopters of the devices include people with chronic diseases at high risk for choking. “This is a very simple device which people can have on hand,” says Port Charlotte, Fla., neurologist William Holt. He says he recommends the LifeVac to his multiple-sclerosis patients, as the disease interferes with the muscular coordination involved in swallowing. Dr. Holt says he works as a volunteer adviser to LifeVac but has no financial link to the company.

Skeptics include Dr. Heimlich, now 96. Such a device may not be handy in the “unexpected instance that a person chokes,” Dr. Heimlich, a retired thoracic surgeon from Cincinnati, says in a statement released by his son, Phil Heimlich. “Any action that delays use of the Heimlich maneuver or complicates the rescue can be deadly.”

If a person is choking and isn’t able to cough out the obstruction, the American Heart Association recommends a rapid sequence of abdominal thrusts. If that doesn’t work, or if you can’t get your arms around the victim, due to obesity or pregnancy, another option is thrusting around the chest area, adds Clifton Callaway, chairman of the AHA’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee. The American Red Cross recommends using five back blows, followed by five abdominal thrusts, repeating as needed.

The LifeVac and the Dechoker are both intended to be used if standard rescue treatments fail, the companies say. One person can get the device while another person starts the Heimlich maneuver, suggests Sean Pittman, Dechoker’s director of strategic development.
The American Heart Association, which last updated its guidelines on choking rescue in 2010, looks for published reports in scientific journals that a technique has a record of successful uses before recommending it, the group says.

On the market less than two years, neither LifeVac nor Dechoker has published evidence of successful uses in humans. Two users have told Dechoker that the device successfully dislodged an obstruction, says Mr. Pittman. In a recent case of an elderly woman in Wales, the LifeVac removed an obstruction after standard treatments failed, says Mr. Lih. The company doesn’t yet have full details on the case, he adds.

In a study published online in March in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, the LifeVac successfully removed test obstructions made of clay from the upper airway of a cadaver. “It worked 49 out of 50 times on the first try,” says study co-author Mimi Juliano, a Farmingdale, N.Y., speech pathologist who specializes in swallowing disorders. The one time the device failed on the first try, researchers didn’t have a good seal around the mouth, she says; it worked the second time.

Source By: http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-new-devices-match-heimlich-to-stop-choking-1468242002

LifeVac – Save a Life!

“ The LifeVac arrived yesterday.   I have already shown it to some of my friends who have grandchildren and as I mentioned, I will bring it to an emergency preparedness meeting that will be at the end of January.

I have it on an open shelf in my kitchen and sincerely hope I never need it.  It gives me a sense of safety having it nearby.

I hope you have a great deal of success with this product as it seems to be filling a need.

I hope you have happy holiday and a food new year.  

Barb (Dec 03, 2016)”

“My mother has suffered  bouts of choking over the past five years. It has resulted in a narrowed esophageal tube. According to the doctor, this can happen with age. Fortunately, in two of those incidents, there was someone there to implement the Heimlich maneuver and dislodge the food particle. In three of them, she was able to cough it out on her own.

She has had two procedures in stretching out the esophagus and the most recent one was about two months ago. Prior to the procedure, I have ordered a LifeVac for my mother. She has it on standby every time she eats (she lives alone).

There are risks in everything we do. This includes the risk of choking to death from eating. It is a serious problem and can happen without warning. I feel that LifeVac is a must for all households, restaurants and public venues. I have one in my office and take it with me on holidays too.  I thank God for LifeVac product and my mother thanks LifeVac immensely!!

LifeVac Review Gallery

LifeVac Review Gallery

What Do You Do When The “Heimlich Maneuver” Doesn’t Work?

What happens when your little boy chokes on a piece of chicken and the back blows and abdominal thrusts just aren’t working? Other than continuing to pounding on their chest like an ape, reaching down their throat with grandma’s back-scratcher, or cutting a hole in their windpipe, there really isn’t much you can do. This is the same fear that motivated Arthur Lih to create LifeVac— a simple, effective anti-choking device for when all else fails.

When learning of LifeVac, I wanted nothing more than for this device to be the missing quintessential element of all choking safety. However, my research background forces me to be skeptical and find the flaws before the perfections.

After playing around with the suction, using it on myself, and even giving myself a rather large hickey I now need to explain to my fiancée, I set out to disprove this sucker… I failed.

Looking at that big red hickey, I wondered how much this thing actually sucked. In one study, LifeVac pulled an average of 232.2 cmH2O, while chest compressions and abdominal thrusts were left in the dust at just 40.8 and 26.4 cm H2O (1) . Impressive to say the least, but will it pull out food?

The hard thing about testing this device is you can’t exactly force someone to choke and still have friends. So, LifeVac used choking dummies used for Heimlich Maneuver training. They lodged and attempted to remove various items and did so with almost 100% success (2).  Again, impressive and shows the potential, but this is a dummy. What about the real thing?

On cadaver tests, LifeVac successfully removed the lodged bolus 49/50 times on the first try (3). I can see it argued removing an object from a cadaver is easier due to the relaxed state of their throat. When choking your trachea may spasm or inflame. However, after the initial release of fluids your body naturally does after death, the saliva is not replenished and the throat becomes more dry. This may actually cause the removal of a bolus to be harder. At any rate, this was an excellent experiment to test the validity of LifeVac in the most realistic and ethical way possible.

There will always be nay-Sayers, red tape in hand, saying something isn’t proven enough, too dangerous, too complicated.

True, as of January 2016, there is yet to be an incident where LifeVac was used in a real emergency (4). However, ponder this: Henry Heimlich came up with his maneuver in 1974, one he never used himself until decades later (5,6).  Yet, we know it works, trust it, and even teach it.
[UPDATE: The LifeVac has, in fact, saved a human life. Story here!

There are still contraindications: If the person has an endo. tube already in place, premature infants under 8lbs., a drowned victim, and, oh yeah, if you’re not choking. The only real risk in using this device, other than the hickies, is the very slight chance it may collapse a lung.

However, without going deep into the physics of it all, this is almost impossible. The bronchioles will collapse before the alveoli ever do. Also, if they do collapse, the surfactant in your airway would still make re-inhalation easy.

The only other damage I can see this having on anyone is if they are hyper-allergic to plastic, or skin tearing in the extremely elderly while creating a good seal. But think: All of these mean nothing if you aren’t breathing.

The LifeVac is perfect for retirement homes, rehab settings, EMS, and restaurants. Basically, anywhere someone may have a chewing or swallowing problem.

This device is intuitive, ingenious, and in my home. Take a look for yourself! What do you think?

Source By: http://www.emswire.com/2016/06/22/heimlich-maneuver-doesnt-work/

LifeVac Simulation Study provides conclusive results on product effectiveness

Patients with oropharyngeal dysphasia are at increased risk for choking which can be a leading cause of death in this population. Currently there are no methods to remove an inhaled object if the traditional Heimlich maneuver fails. LifeVac is an apparatus which is simple to use in order to remove an object lodged in the trachea if the Heimlich maneuver fails.

The Laerdel choking simulator system was used in order to simulate a choking victim. The Laerdel ALS Megacode Kelly, Megacode kid, and were all evaluated. Items most frequently leading to choking deaths include grapes, hot dogs, popcorn, and toy cars and these items were therefore tested. The item was pushed into the airway in order to create an obstruction. The LifeVac unit was then used per standard protocol and the frequency of dislodging the object was recorded.

Using ALS Megacode Kelly with a grape inserted into the airway the LifeVac successfully moved the object 15 out of 19 tries (79%). It was successful in dislodging a hot dog in line with the airway 16 out of 16 tries or 100%. When the hot dog was perpendicular 4/5 or 80% were successful. Popcorn was removed in 8 of 8 tries or 100%, and 5 out of 5 toy cars in line with the airway or 100% were removed. Using the Laerdel Megacode kid with SIM pad 12 out of 12 grapes were removed (100%), 10 of 10 hot dogs were removed as well. 5 cars however did not move. Using the Laerdel airway trainer 14 hot dogs were all removed successful.

LifeVac is an apparatus that is simple to use and is an effective method in successfully dislodging an object lodged in the airway of a choking victim.