In November last year, Megan Howard was babysitting a toddler. She gave the little girl her breakfast, then left the room to use the bathroom leaving the little girl eating a pop tart.

While she was gone, the toddler started choking. But Megan’s Quaker parrot, Willie, raised the alarm by flapping his wings and squawking “Mama! Baby!” over and over until Megan ran back in. She did the Heimlich maneuver and stopped the toddler choking.

Willie recived the Animal Lifesaver Award award from the Denver Red Cross today for saving the little girl.

Well done Willie and Megan for saving the little girl. Although how the parrot knew the little girl was in trouble is beyond me. And because Megan knew about the Heimlich maneuver, she got the food out of the toddler’s throat and saved her from choking.

Perhaps I need a parrot? Well, probably not, and learning how to do the Heimlich maneuver would be much much more useful in an emergency.  Where can you learn how to help a choking baby?

Even if you have taken an adult CPR class, the procedure for helping a choking baby or small child is different for what you would do for an adult, so the best place is at an Infant and Child CPR class approved by either the Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or a hospital.

The American Red Cross offers baby and child CPR courses, you can find you local Red Cross chapter at RedCross.org

The American Heart Association has a directory of other health care and community organizations that offer CPR classes, searchable by your zip code.

The maternity and baby ward of your hospital might also offer infant CPR classes, or have referrals to organizations who offer them.

Here’s a couple of videos to give an idea of what’s involved in first aid for a choking baby, and a choking toddler or small child. Don’t depend on the videos though – the best way to learn is at a CPR class from a trained instructor.

Sneakers of different colors, shapes and sizes. These pictures are sending you this message: “Walk, run, and jump with us!”

As the oldest and most well-known heart advocacy group, the American Heart Association is actively endorsing the FIT Kids Act. As part of its campaign, AHA organized the Sneakers For FIT Kids Photo Petition, which you can find as an album in Flickr.

The FIT (Fitness Integrated with Teaching) Kids Act addresses the epidemic of childhood obesity in the US. The Act was introduced in Congress in July 2007 and in the Senate on October 2007. If passed and enacted, this act will improve on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act “to require that all schools, districts and states include the quantity and quality of PE in the report cards currently sent to parents. It would also ensure that children get the support they need to be active and make healthy food choices.”

By sending in your sneaker photos, you are giving your support for the FIT Kids Act. So take out your cameras and your sneakers. But don’t just stop there. Let’s all get moving towards FITNESS.

Most people know that increasing activity levels can assist them in losing weight. A new study, reported in the Annals of Family Medicine, recently reported that purchasing a pedometer can assist in this pursuit as well. Pedometers track the distance walked, lessening the walker?s wonder if she has gone far enough. Caroline Richardson and her team at the University of Michigan reviewed nine studies of 307 men and women who used pedometers for varying lengths of time, from four weeks to a year.

When the participants added twenty to forty minutes of walking per day to their routines, they lost about .1 pound per week, a small amount that adds up to about five pounds per year.

However, Ms. Richardson suggested that, ?The increase in physical activity can be expected to result in health benefits that are independent of weight loss. Increasing physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular problems, lowers blood pressure and helps dieters maintain lean muscle tissue when they are dieting.? According to Ms. Richardson, the results for the participants were ?remarkably consistent.?

The American Heart Association recommends that ?all healthy adults between 18 and 65 years should take part in moderate physical activity such as walking for at least thirty minutes a day, five days a week, or vigorous physical activity such as jogging for at least twenty minutes three days a week.? At least this much activity assists in maintaining health and reducing the risk of chronic disease.

Resources:

http://www.reuters.com

http://www.americanheart.org