I'm certified both under Ellis & Associates and Red Cross. A waterpark/special facility pool lifeguard of over a year and camp swim instructor. I was curious if I could ask your opinion on a very controversial "life saving" technique select states have allowed the Red Cross to teach. Have you ever heard the method of preforming the Heimlich on near drowning victims in attempt to remove water from the lungs? We were never taught that, as it is very dangerous for the victim. What is your opinion?
I asked the lifeguard who helps me run this blog and personally at Star Guard (and the Red Cross where we are) here we were never taught this nor have I heard of a lifeguard who was taught this technique, I agree with you on the point of it delaying extrication. We were taught our first priority would be getting the patron our of the water to perform first aid if necessary. We were only taught to perform the heimlich maneuver on a conscious choking victim out of water. If you were talking about an unconscious drowning victim, we were taught to go immediately into obstructed airway cpr. Personally I don't believe it should be taught in course training because of the complications that could easily happen. Also in course training the Heimlich Maneuver for us at least was not gone over much, granted we know how to do it but I would feel much safer in myself doing obstructed airway cpr because of how much they implicated it in our training.
