Wednesday, July 11, 2012

FOX-TV reporter Brenda Flanagan gets Cincinnati's Heimlich Institute on record - after 40 years, they've stopped promoting the Heimlich maneuver for drowning rescue; and are four Jersey shore water parks using "people as guinea pigs"?


From an investigative report that aired last night on FOX-TV's New Jersey affiliate, WWOR:

BRENDA FLANAGAN: Swamped by complaints, Dr. Heimlich's own institute told us last week: 


Here's the complete must-see report, focusing on the National Aquatic Safety Company (NASCO), a Houston-area lifeguard training company that teaches lifeguards to perform the Heimlich (a/k/a abdominal thrusts) on drowning victims at four Jersey Shore water parks: Breakwater Beach (Seaside Heights); Thundering Surf (Beach Haven); Gillian's Island (Ocean City); and Splash Zone (Wildwood).




I'm on-camera at around timestamp 1:15, calling the Heimlich for drowning "a poison idea."


Click here for links to more published reports about NASCO and the Heimlich maneuver including a May 2012 editorial in Aquatics International magazine that includes:
(There) are times when science must be paramount, particularly when going with our gut means using people as guinea pigs. That is essentially what (NASCO) has decided to do in its use of the Heimlich maneuver for drowning rescues.
Here are the current members of the board of the Heimlich Institute:


This item has been updated.