Mary Roberta Mackey, aged 8, of Boise, Idaho, for her question:
What is artificial respiration?
We breathe in and out all the time. We don't have to tell the wonderful body to keep breathing. It does the job by Itself. We,.‑hardly notice it. The fancy name for this breathing is respiration. Now a real flower grows by itself. An artificial flower did not grow by itself. Somebody made it. Real respiration goes on by itself. Artificial respiration is helped along by someone. We give artificial respiration when the body needs help to breathe.
This sometimes happens when the body gets into an accident. The lungs may become choked with smoke or gas. They may soak up water if a. person half drowns. Often the heart goes right on beating when this happens. Though it beats very faintly. Then it the time to help the lungs get started again with artificial respiration.
Let's say a boy has fallen into a creek, We fish him out. He seems to be asleep. Actually he is unconscious. His heart may be beating but his lungs are not working. First, send someone for a doctor in a hurry. Then get ready for artificial respiration. Everyone should learn how to give artificial respiration. Everyone should practice in case they ever have to use it. There are several good methods. One is called the back pressurearm lift method. Place the boy on a blanket face down and flat on the ground. Cover him with another warm blanket if you have one handy. Put his elbows flat on the ground on a level with his shoulders. Fold his hands under. his face. You need strong muscles and lots of patience to start him breathing on his own again. The job is to help his longs pull in air and push it out again. The lungs work like bellows. It is important to help them .nrork 1n rhythm. Each breath in and out takes three seconds. Kneel on the ground with one knee on either side of the boy's head. Keep your arms stiff. The first step is to push a breath of air out of his lungs. Press the flat of your hands on his ribs, below the shoulder blades. This squeezes the bellows and pushes. It is step one and takes about one second to do.
Step two helps the lungs take in new air. Grasp the boy's elbows. Pull them towards you and up. This otpens the bellows and lets in new air, Step two takes one second, Then you use one second to get set to start over with step one again. Sensible people learn these simple steps from an expert.Then they know exactly how hard to press and how fast to work. Such people can be trusted to bring a half dro‑yomed person back to life,
It may take hours before that boy starts breathing for himself again. So when you get tired, have some one else ready to take over. Work a few of the steps together so that you do not change the rhythm. Some people have come back to life after four hours of artificial respiration. So don't give up until the boy flutters his eyes and starts breathing for himself, or the doctor arrives.