Dana Welch learned CPR at Piedmont Newnan Hospital shortly after giving birth to Piper, who was born six weeks early.
Welch, mom to four children, never thought she’d have to perform CPR on one of her children, especially not her baby girl who had only recently come home from Piedmont Newnan Hospital’s NICU.
But one day in late December, one of Welch’s children, daughter Skylar, who is 12, was holding three-week-old Piper when her eyes glazed over and she struggled to breathe.
Welch performed two rounds of CPR and Piper responded and seemed OK. Just minutes later, Piper stopped breathing again.
Welch immediately placed Piper on the ground and performed an additional six rounds of CPR before paramedics arrived.
Without a doubt, Welch saved her baby’s life at the family’s home in Williamson, about an hour south of Atlanta. Piper, who was suffering from a serious respiratory infection known as RSV (premature infants are particularly susceptible to RSV during the winter months) was then hospitalized. She recently went home and is doing well.
“I would not have known what to do without Allison (a nurse in Piedmont Newnan’s NICU) teaching us and having us practice on a doll. I knew what I was doing with Piper was working because I could see her chest moving like the doll’s did,” said Welch in an e-mail. “All parents hope they never have to use it but glad I knew how when I did.”
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Parents of children born prematurely (less than 37 weeks) or weighing less than 5 pounds are taught CPR at Piedmont due to higher risk of medical complications.
In sharing this story, Piedmont Healthcare hopes to raise awareness on the importance of knowing how to perform CPR. Every year, a startling 9,000 children under the age of 14 die as a result of parents not knowing how to administer basic, emergency CPR or first aid, according to CPR Headquarters, an online CPR certification website.
CPR is most successful when performed as soon as possible. Permanent brain damage begins after only 4 minutes without oxygen, and death can occur as soon as 4 to 6 minutes later.
The CPR headquarters, which provides free online CPR certification, offers the following tips for infants 1 year of age and under:
First shout and then tap gently on the shoulder of the child, for determining responsiveness. If the kid does not respond or isn't breathing in a normal manner, position him/her on his/her back and start performing CPR.
Perform 30 compressions gently on the chest, completing 100 compressions in a minute. Make sure to use 2 or 3 fingers only to give chest compressions but on the center of the child's chest and right below her/his nipple line. Press about 1 ½ inches depth that of the chest.
In the third step, open airway by first tilting the head and lifting the chin. But make sure not to tilt the head too much at the back.
In the final step, you have to give 2 rescue breaths in a gentle manner, but only in case the kid is not breathing in a normal manner or at all. First cover his/her mouth and pinch nose and place your mouth and give 2 breaths gently. Each breath must last for 1 second or until you witness any response – rising of the child's chest.
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