CINCINNATI – The 96-year-old Cincinnati surgeon credited with developing his namesake Heimlich manoeuvre recently used the emergency technique for the first time himself to save a woman choking on food at his senior living centre.
Dr. Henry Heimlich told The Cincinnati Enquirer in an interview Thursday he has demonstrated the well-known manoeuvre many times through the years but had never before used it on a person who was choking.
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An employee at the Deupree House in Cincinnati where Heimlich lives says the retired chest surgeon was in the room when an 87-year-old woman began choking. The employee says Heimlich dislodged a piece of hamburger from the woman’s airway and she quickly recovered.
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Heimlich says it made him appreciate how wonderful it has been “to be able to save all those lives.”
Heimlich developed the technique in 1974. It is now officially referred to as abdominal thrusts.
The Canadian Red Cross has this guide on how to help someone who is choking.
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