Dear Friends,
This is one of those “I never thought it would happen to me” stories. I’m sure you have seen a news report with the headline, “Mom Saves Baby’s Life With CPR.” I never paid much attention to these stories, even after taking CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training a few years ago along with my co-workers at the Museum. Frankly, I thought that it was far more important for CMEE’s frontline staff — rather than me — to participate in the training. If someone needed CPR at the Museum, they would be ones to respond. However, since 70% of cardiac arrests take place in the home according to the American Heart Association, I’m now very glad I paid attention during our class.
On March 23, I was putting our oldest son to bed while my wife nursed our other son, Grant, who was then 2 ½ week olds, downstairs. While I was helping our older son get into his pajamas, my wife called to me about bringing something downstairs. “What do you want me to bring down?” I asked. “Get down here now!!!” she yelled back. I left my son and rushed downstairs to find my wife in the kitchen holding our baby up to me. “Grant choked while I was nursing him and now he’s not breathing and his body has gone completely limp,” she said. I took Grant from her and exclaimed, “Call 911!”
While she dialed the EMTs, I checked to see if there was something obstructing Grant’s throat. When I couldn’t find anything, I laid him on the kitchen counter, began chest compressions with my index and middle finger and then remembered to give him two rescue breaths. The second breath seemed to dislodge something in his airway and he wriggled a little bit. Then, he began to wail and wail. I can’t begin to explain how overjoyed I was to hear a baby cry. Later that night after Grant was diagnosed with pneumonia at Stony Brook Hospital, we theorized that he may have stopped breathing because he aspirated breast milk.
The experience of trying to resuscitate Grant reminded me that CMEE needed to renew its CPR training. This time, we are opening up our staff training to the general public. On Tuesday, May 24 from 9:30am to 12:30pm and 1:30pm – 4:30pm, the Museum will host the American Heart Association’s two year certification class covering Adult, Child and Infant CPR/AED and airway obstruction (an AED is an automated external defibrillator). The cost for the three-hour training is $50. If you are interested in registering or learning more, please call Doug Borge at CMEE at 631.537.8250. Even if you can’t attend the training session at the Museum, I strongly encourage you to become certified in CPR for children and infants. As my father-in-law would tell me, “It’s a must!”
Sincerely,
Steve