The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-03-12
TREATMENT OF THE DROWNED.
Two Things to Be Done: Restore Breath
ing; Restore Animal Heat.

TkEATMENT OE THE UkOWNEDs
Two Things to BE Done: Restore Breath
ing; Restore Animal Heat.
We give pubication to the following
method and rules, devised and prepared
by the Committee on Accidents, ETC.,
being modification of rules furnished
by DR.. Beech, of Coldwater, Mich, and
of those published by the Life Saving
Society of New York, which have been
adopted and printed by the State Board
of Health of Michigan:
RULE 1.-Remove all distractions to
breathing. Instantly loosen or cut apart
on his face, with his head down hill;
stand astride the hips with your face
toward his head, and, locking your fin
gers together under his belly, raise the
body as high as you can without lifting
the forehead off the ground, and give the
body smart jerk to remove the mucus
from the throat and water from the wind
pipe; hold the body suspended long
enough to slowly count ONE, TWO, THREE,
FOUR, FIVE, repeating the jerk more
gently two or three times.
RULE 2.-Place the patient on the
ground, face downward, and maintaining
all the while your position astride the
body, grasp the points of the shoulder
thrust your fingers into the armpits,
clasping your thumbs over the points OF
| the shoulders, and raise the chest as high
as you can without lifting the head quite
off the ground, and hold it long enough
| to slowly count ONE, TWO, THREE. Re-
place him on the ground, with his fore
head on his hexed arm, the neck straight
, ened out, and the mouth and nose free.
Place your elbows against your knees
and your hands upon the sides of his
chest over the lower ribs and press down
ward and inward with increasing force
long enough to slowly count ONE, TWO.
Then suddenly let go, grasp the shoul-
ders as before and raise the chest; then
press upon the ribs, etc. These alternate
movements should be repeated ten to fif-
teen times minute for an hour at least,
unless breathing is restored sooner. Use
the same regularity as in natural breath
| ing.
RULE 3.-After breathing has COM
menced, restore the animal heat. Wrap
him in warm blankets, apply bottles of
hot water, hot bricks, or anything to re-
store heat. Warm the head nearly as
fast as the body, lest commissions come
on. Rubbing the body with warm cloths
or the hand, and slapping the fieshy
parts may assist to restore warmth, and
the breathing also. If the patient can
| surely swallow, give hot coffee, tea, milk
| ingly, lest they produce depression
Place the patient in q warm bed, and
| give him plenty of fresh air keep him
quiet.
Be,rdre! Avoid delay. A moment
may turn the scale for life or death. Dry
! ground shelter, warmth, stimulants, etc,
| at this moment are nothing-artificial
breathing is everything-is the one rem
edy-al others are secondary.
Do not stop to remove wet clothing.
Precious time Is wasted, and the patient
may be fatally chilled by exposure of the
naked body, even in summer. Give all
your attention and effort to restore
breathing by forcing air into, and out of.
! the lungs. II the breathing has just
ceased, a smart slap on the face, or a
vigorous twist of the hair viii sometimes
start it again, and may be tried incident
ally.
Before natural breathing is fully re-
stored, do not let the patient lie on his
back unless some person holds the tongue
forward. The tongue by falling back
may close the windpipe, and cause fatal
choking.
Prevent friends from crowdine around
the patient and excluding fresh air also
from trying to give stimulants before the
patient can swallow. The first causes
suffocation the second fatal choking.
Do not give up too soon. You are
working for life. Any time within two
hours you may be on the very threshold
of success without there being any sign
of it.
In suffocation by smoke or any poison
GUS gas, as also by hanging proceed the
same way as for drowning, emitting
effort to expel water, ETC., from wind
pipe.
In suspended breathing from effects
of chloroform, hydrate of chIoral, ETC.,
proceed by Rule 2, taking especial pains
to keep the head very low, and prevent
closure of the windpipe by the tongue
falling back.