Thursday, March 28th is National Choking Prevention Awareness Day.
People with Autism and other Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities are up to 11 times more susceptible to choking incidents and injuries for many reasons, some of which include side effects of medication, poor motor skills, and medical conditions such as dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing.
DDI is taking this opportunity to raise awareness and reinforce the importance of choking prevention in our community and among our staff, engaging team members with a week full of contests, quizzes and prizes! Development Associate, Dina Capeci, won some swag as well as a LifeVac anti-choking device for coming up with the campaign’s tagline, “Choking prevention needs your attention.”
DDI staff are highly trained in how to carefully adhere to individualized diet plans.
Through our partnership with LifeVac they are also trained on how to use the 300 LifeVac anti-choking devices installed throughout our schools, day habilitation facilities, 45+ residences and fleet of transport vehicles.
This is a first of its kind investment from a nonprofit provider of intellectual and development disabilities services and a demonstration of our commitment to the health and safety of the people we serve.
For more resources on choking as it relates to people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, please see the informational links below.
OPWDD resources page for choking prevention
OPWDD Choking Prevention & Intervention update November 2015.