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Hi again, I’m Michelle of the AD HOC Group. In this segment, I’ll demonstrate how to
assess a victim for breathing. This involves positioning the head correctly and then to
look, listen and feel for breathing. The techniques we’re going to demonstrate are the same
for adults and for children over 1 year old. First, you’ll position the head to open
the airway, place the outer edge of one hand across the forehead, and the fingers of the
other hand under the jaw bone, and gently rotate the head backward by lifting the jaw
and rocking the head backwards. Positioning the head in this manner will lift the tongue
from the back of the throat and open the airway. Next, lean down, close enough to place your
cheek above the victim’s mouth and nose and look at the chest. Spend at least five
seconds and no more than ten seconds watching for the chest to rise, listening for the sound
of air moving and feeling for the warmth of movement of air. If it doesn’t rise, reposition
the head and give a second breath. A person breathing normally will take at least one
breath during that time, enough to raise the chest so that you can clearly see it move.
If you don’t see the chest rise or feel or hear air moving from the mouth and nose,
you will need to give two rescue breaths. I’ll show you how this is done in the next
clip. Please note that the newest guidelines don’t include teaching the jaw thrust technique
because this as well as several other steps take extra time, cause confusion and tend
to delay the start of compressions.