Mouth barriers can be useful if you are carrying one. But I would
still do mouth-to-mouth if it were necessary and I was without one.
Contact your local Red Cross and they will set you up with a small
"wallet" sized packet. Take two, one for your pocket key-ring, and one
for the kit. I also recommend taking the CPR and Medical First Aid
course they offer. Takes a short day and gives you piece of mind.
Usually around 45 dollars.

I too had to perform an emergency MtM and CPR a couple of years ago
six miles in on a hiking trail. Sorry to say it was not successful.
But you do what you can and accept everything else.

Regarding where to put the butt of your hands for the Hiemlich, two
fingers above the navel is a bit low.

See: http://www2.sptimes.com/pdfs/heimlich.pdf

I was happy to hear the kid was okay. You did great.

Thomas

Thomas & Loralee
'84 Westy "Totoro"

"This is an adventure. Don't over-think it."

On Jul 3, 2009, at 10:13AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> I was involved in four CPR incidents back in the '70s (one
> successful, IIRC) and while an Ambu bag (hand-operated ventilator)
> was a nice thing to have, there was never any hesitation about doing
> direct mouth-to-mouth until one arrived.  Is this barrier a response
> to real risks, or is it an aesthetic matter to increase people's
> willingness to do CPR?  If the risks are real, do you have any
> figures on just how risky it is?  Likewise on the compressions-only
> -- is that based on outcomes or aesthetics?
>
> Thanks,