In Case You Missed It ...
May 14, 2009 7:00 pm US/Central
TCU Nursing Student Saves Man's Life On Plane
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
One of the worst places to have a medical emergency, such as a heart attack, is on an airplane, in the middle of a long flight. But one man, returning from Las Vegas, was lucky that there was one passenger onboard who could save his life.
"I was just in Vegas that morning, losing at blackjack, and I was just ready to get home and go to bed," explained Texas Christian University student Leah Joslin. "I never thought that would happen."
High in the sky, on the flight back, an elderly Italian-speaking couple was having a medical emergency. What were the odds a TCU nursing student was sitting just one row back?
"She was saying 'doctor' but she had an accent and it took me a second to realize what she was asking for," said Joslin. "And I looked over and saw her husband was leaned back in the seat and was very, very, pale."
Disregarding everything else Joslin jumped into action. "I launched out of my seat and body checked this poor guy out of the way and climbed on top of him," she said laughing.
Joslin made a quick assessment of the man. "He had his eyes rolled back, unconscious. He was very, very pale. Very sweaty," she said.
The young student yelled for basic medical equipment, which the flight attendant provided. "I got oxygen on him and after I had oxygen on him for a second he came to and was very disoriented and started fighting me off." Then Joslin made another quick assessment. "And I assumed since his wife didn't speak English, he didn't speak much."
Joslin used sign language to communicate with the dazed man. She asked him about dizziness, nausea and told him to breathe slowly, so he could absorb the oxygen from the mask on his face.
"His color came back and I felt down and felt a pulse and it was still pretty sluggish," Joslin said of her 'patient'. "We finally did get a blood pressure range that was within normal limits and that was fine. And we decided our best option at that point was just to keep him stable."
Joslin told the flight crew she could keep the man stable until the flight landed in Dallas an hour later.
While the events were unexpected Joslin is glad she was there. "I feel proud of my education," she reflected. "I feel like, wow! I actually do know something."
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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