JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Even people trained on CPR, the Heimlich maneuver and other lifesaving techniques are not always confident how they would react if called upon in an emergency situation.
That’s why companies are selling devices promising to make those lifesaving moments a little easier.
We saw ads for these devices popping up regularly our social media feeds and decided to buy the DeChoker to see how it works.
The idea of it is simple: You put the device over the mouth, pull it up and whatever is stuck is supposed to be dislodged.
Who better to ask how it works than Priya Weise, mother of two twin boys Aidan and Ethan, who is always alert in case one of them swallows something they shouldn’t.
“There’s two of them. I can’t give each of them 100% attention at any given time because I always have to split my attention between them. It’s definitely a little scary,” Weise said.
That is one of the reasons she took CPR classes while she was pregnant.
“We definitely prepared as best we could but, in an emergency, sometimes you forget what you learned. That’s just human nature,” Weise said.
We gave Weise all three versions of different versions of the device: infant, child and adult.
“First initial thoughts is that it looks easy enough to use. It’s small, it’s not a big chunky device that you’ll have to lug around,” Weise said.
After messing around with the device for another few minutes. Weise’s overall thoughts,
“If I were to have my child in the care of a teacher or babysitter, and with COVID it’s sort of a strange, weird time that we’re living in, the fact that another adult another caregiver could use this device on my child instead of mouth to mouth or something more intimate, that is definitely reassuring,” she said.
Now that we got mom’s approval on the device we sought out the opinion of a medical professional.
“The DeChoker has been around for a while. I’ve seen it talked about in different realms of drowning and choking and I think the intention is good,” said UF Health Dr. Andrew Schmidt, assistant professor of emergency medicine. “I think what we need to wait for is a little more science.”
While the DeChoker is FDA registered it’s not FDA approved at this time and there is almost no data to prove it works in real life.
Schmidt tried the device on a mannequin they used for medical training.
“You’re going to insert it into the airway, you’re going to hold it on the airway, and this in itself is actually tough. The actual holding (of) a mask onto a face properly is a skill that doctors, it takes a while to learn,” Schmidt said. “So, it’s one of those things that if you’re a panicked parent it might actually be kind of tough to get a good seal on here.”
That’s strike 1 for the DeChoker. But if you can properly get the mask fitted, Schmidt said the device appears to have its benefits.
“The mechanical idea behind it makes sense. You’re adding a negative pressure,” he said. “The concerns a lot of us in the scientific community have -- especially in drowning patients -- is you’re not treating the initial problem.”
Schmidt explained the process.
“If you pull this patient out of the water and their problem is they haven’t been breathing for a couple of minutes the problem isn’t necessarily a blocked airway and then you spend the next one to two minutes doing this. That’s two more minutes that they haven’t gotten oxygen,” he said.
DR. SCHMIDT DEMONSTRATES: CPR on a child | Heimlich maneuver on a child
Schmidt knows of some cases reported of children with food stuck in their throat and the DeChoker was used to dislodge it.
“This device could show promise, but the only problem is we don’t have evidence, we just can’t make recommendations right now,” he said, but added that doesn’t mean the devices can’t be recommended when there are more data.
For now, Schmidt said the Heimlich maneuver, when someone is choking and alert, or CPR, if someone is unconscious, remains the best way to save someone’s life.