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“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education (DoE) to purchase a LifeVac as an airway clearing device and provide training to use this device in rural and remote schools, especially in schools that have State Delivered Kindergarten (SDK) programs, particularly in areas with significant response time delay to choking incidents due to the tyranny of distance.”
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Choking is a real and extremely dangerous event. Having this emergency in a rural and remote area adds greater repercussions when help is not within a timely manner. From our experience we are not suggesting this is the answer to choking incidents, but having this device available will give carers another chance to help someone who is in this life- threatening situation. Recently one of our families was recently confronted with this emergency.
****Choking incident being discussed****
On the 4th of March 2025 we almost lost our 2-year-old daughter Maddie to a choking incident at home. Maddie had been in bed asleep, unwell with a high fever when she convulsed and vomited at the same time, aspirating her vomit into her airway. We recognised it was a very serious situation and started first aid for choking immediately when we saw she was turning blue quickly, was silent and was gasping like a fish trying to breathe.
Unfortunately, despite carrying out all appropriate choking first aid, including back blows, abdominal thrusts, chest thrusts and even rescue breaths, everything failed to dislodge the blockage or get air into her past the blockage. Just before she lost consciousness, I used a first aid tool called a LifeVac, which I've had hanging on the wall in my kitchen for almost 2 years. It's an airway clearance device that uses suction to help remove a blockage from a choking victim. Thankfully in our case it was successful and removed the blockage in just 2 quick plunges allowing Maddie to breathe again.
While this was all happening, Mike and his parents were on the phone to the ambulance and we were out the door, driving to meet them as soon as she was breathing. Unfortunately, possibly due to a miscommunication somewhere in the chain, we never met the ambulance enroute as they were travelling along a different road to the one, we travelled, but we still arrived at the hospital safely thanks to Mike's extra determination. Her condition stabilised at the hospital, but it was still decided that she needed to be airlifted to Toowoomba for extra tests and monitoring. She was such a strong, resilient little girl and she recovered very quickly once she arrived and by the next day, she passed all her tests and was allowed to go home.
We hope by sharing this story it informs people of this device and gives a clear indication why we feel these devices should be provided in our rural and remote areas.
