At Dechoker, one of the comments we hear often from families who have been through a choking emergency is that they \u201cnever thought it would happen to them.\u201d Choking is one of those things that we all know is out there, but that most people really don\u2019t give any thought to until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
We believe that more awareness about\u00a0choking prevention\u00a0and treatment could save lives. Not every emergency can be prevented, but more people could be ready for those emergencies when they do arise.<\/p>\n
So how do we raise that awareness? Here are some steps most people can take in their own lives to spread the word about choking and how to prevent it from becoming fatal.<\/p>\n
Before you can educate others on any issue, you need to know your stuff. A great place to start learning about\u00a0choking\u00a0prevention and\u00a0first aid\u00a0is right here on\u00a0our blog<\/a>, where you can find posts on everything from\u00a0high-risk foods<\/a>\u00a0to how to\u00a0identify choking<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0what to do next<\/a>. You can also learn on our website about\u00a0choking statistics<\/a>, such as the surprising fact that a child dies in the U.S. every five days from choking. Most importantly of all, you should educate yourself about first-aid treatments, including abdominal thrusts, back slaps and The Dechoker.<\/p>\n Your next step is deciding whom you want to spread the word to. We believe a grassroots approach is a strong choice. Start with the people in your immediate community, who are already interested in what you have to say. This can be a trusted group of friends and family or members of a community or church organization.<\/p>\n Another option is to focus on people who have a vested interest in learning about choking in particular. For instance, the risk of choking is much higher for children age 5 and younger, as well as elderly people. This makes parents and caregivers of both of those age groups a great audience. Reach out to other families from your child\u2019s daycare or school. Connect with the team at your elderly relative\u2019s care facility, or find a community group that serves older people.<\/p>\n The old days of spreading awareness with flyers and newspaper ads have changed. Those approaches may still be effective for some, but we recommend any good awareness campaign also come with a strong online presence. Here are some things you should do:<\/p>\n Passing information along is wonderful, but it sticks in people\u2019s minds a lot better if they have an event that gets them directly involved. For choking, a great option is to reach out to local first responders or healthcare organizations to set up a demonstration event. Invite an expert to come teach people first-aid treatments such as abdominal thrusts or using\u00a0The Dechoker<\/a>. Events can also be online. Have some kind of raffle or giveaway that encourages people to learn more about your campaign. Be sure to promote your events using social media and email.<\/p>\n In all that you do in your awareness campaign, remember to empower people with hope, information and preparedness. A topic like choking can be scary. You want people to understand the risk, but still want to learn more. Show your audience that a simple action, such as learning about first-aid treatments, can make a huge difference in the safety of their loved ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At Dechoker, one of the comments we hear often from families who have been through a choking emergency is that they \u201cnever thought it would happen to them.\u201d Choking is one of those things that we all know is out there, but that most people really don\u2019t give any thought to until it\u2019s too late. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Decide on Your Audience<\/h2>\n
Get Online<\/h2>\n
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Host an Event<\/h2>\n
Empower Your Audience<\/h2>\n