CNA Saves Life On A Flight - CNA Heroes on CNA-TV
Channel: CNA TV - NAHCA Broadcasting Network
Date: 2020-02-15

CNA Saves Life On A Flight - CNA Heroes on CNA-TV

November of 2015, Amelia Corwin was on a flight back to Portland after a trip to Florida.  Only 20 minutes into the flight, a flight attendant’s voice came on the intercom with the question that often strikes fear in the hearts of health care personnel in their off duty time.
“Is there a doctor or nurse on board?”

Amelia, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at Oregon Health & Science University’s ambulatory surgery center, jumped into action. Below, she shares her experience in her own words.

When no one responded, Amelia announced that she was a CNA and knew CPR.
The crew accepted her help. When she got to the passenger’s seat, she saw a young woman who had turned a deep blue color. She didn’t have a pulse, she wasn’t breathing and she’d been foaming at the mouth until she lost consciousness. It was obvious to Amelia that she had had a seizure – Amelia used to have them when she was younger, so she’s very familiar with the symptoms – and that passenger had been without oxygen for a couple of minutes.
At this point, Amelia yelled for people to clear the area so she could perform CPR. Others helped Amelia get her the passenger out of her seat and on her back in the aisle of the plane. Another passenger (a nurse) started compressions while Amelia monitored the unconscious woman’s airway and continued to check for a pulse. Amelia felt it come back after about a minute, and she saw her start breathing on her own. She began coughing and gurgling a bit, so they turned her on her side to clear her airway.

Once Amelia returned her to her back, she placed an oxygen mask on her. The crew had given Amelia the headset so she could directly communicate with the air traffic controller. She took her pulse several times to get a baseline and reported her vital signs, though they were unable to get a blood pressure reading due to background noise on the plane. She started to get feverish, so Amelia assisted her with removing her sweater and getting a bag of ice to place on the back of her neck and on her chest. After she returned to a normal temperature, Amelia got her sitting up and eventually she was able to return to her seat.

Amelia sat in close proximity to the woman while the plane turned around and touched down in Kansas City, where EMS boarded the plane and took her to the nearest hospital. At this point, the young woman had recovered enough that she was able to walk off of the plane with the responders.