Healthcare Heroes

JUNE 11, 2008  - Erin O'Neil was thinking about coffee and not much else during an early-morning flight Tuesday out of Sacramento International Airport – until a co-worker yelled "Code Blue" from the back of the plane.

A man in his early 50s had slumped down in his seat and O'Neil – a respiratory therapist at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael – ran to help after hearing the code phrase that signals a patient's heart has stopped.

"He was ashen and at one time he stopped breathing," said O'Neil, who was part of a group of 35 workers headed to Southern California on a Southwest Airlines flight to attend a contract bargaining session with their employer, Catholic Healthcare West.

Passengers stayed calm as O'Neil and David Lei, a registered nurse at Mark Twain St. Joseph's Hospital in San Andreas, performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and took the man's vital signs.
His color and breathing returned to normal, O'Neil said.

The stricken passenger was on blood-pressure medication, and O'Neil said the change in elevation may have triggered a drop in blood pressure, causing him to lose consciousness and stop breathing.

The plane landed at the Burbank airport, where paramedics were waiting to treat the passenger, O'Neil said.

"I was surprised when he was able to walk out on his own," he said. "I don't want to brag or anything, but I guess it's a testament to our skill and our ability to assess the situation."

Brandy King, a Southwest Airlines spokeswoman, said information about the passenger's condition was not available.