Dole VA Nurse answers plea: "Is a medical professional on this flight?"
Jennifer Farney was fast asleep on a flight to Pittsburgh to celebrate her grandmother’s 96th birthday, when suddenly she was awakened by an elbow poke from her husband sitting next to her.
“I was in a deep sleep and my husband was like, ‘Wake up, you’re needed,’” said Farney, who is a staff nurse in Dole VA’s Emergency Department.
“I was totally disoriented and had no idea what was going on, but I instinctively stood up and saw flight attendants motioning to me.”
A 73-year-old man - who happened to be a Veteran - seated next to his wife was pale and sweaty. He also was not responding appropriately. Farney paused for a moment to get her bearings, took a deep breath, then asked for a medical aid bag and got to work.
“I took some initial vitals, and his blood pressure was super low, so I had flight attendants help me lay him down on the aisle floor to help the blood flow to his brain,” she said. “His wife said his blood sugar levels may be low, so I put out the call for a glucometer to check, and, thankfully, a passenger had one.”
Farney inserted an IV with saline into the man’s vein, and while another passenger held the needle in place and kept the bag aloft, she applied a glucose gel to the mucous membranes inside the man’s mouth and on his gums.
She was able to get a glucometer reading hovering around 100, which is normal, and gave the man IV Phenergan to help with nausea.
The flight was diverted to Cleveland so EMTs could rush the man to a hospital. In a glowing letter sent to the medical center director, the wife explained, “During the ride to Cleveland Clinic, the EMT, who had experience of this kind, told me he had never seen a patient come off an airplane in such good shape.”
Shortly thereafter, Farney and her husband were back in the air to see her grandmother.
"Just doing my job," she said.
The wife praised Farney’s quick action and called her an angel.
“We are so very grateful to Jennifer not only for her incredible skill and knowledge, but also for her kindness and compassion!”