When a man’s heart stopped and he appeared visually ill in the middle of a flight, a couple sprung into action and saved the day.
Registered nurse Emily Raines and her former full-time nurse boyfriend, Daniel Shifflett, jumped into action when they heard a Southwest Airlines flight attendant call out for aid to all passengers for a medical emergency another traveller was experiencing, CBS News Baltimore reported.
A nurse and her boyfriend saved a man’s life on a flight back home to Baltimore from a vacation in the Bahamas. https://t.co/MLJUNzvlxp
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 31, 2023
“On our way up there I was trying to pregame like hey if we have to do compressions, I need you to do compressions. I’ll take care of everything else,” Raines explained to the outlet. (RELATED: Biden Says Nurse Would ‘Do Things’ To Him That She Didn’t Learn In School)
When Raines and Shifflett got to the man, he was unconscious with no pulse. Shortly after, the man slouched back in his seat and his face turned “completely purple,” the outlet noted. “It was quite alarming, obviously, seeing his face look that way,” Raines recalled.
The plane made an emergency landing at a Raleigh, North Carolina, airport, according to WMAR 2 News. It was initially bound for Baltimore.
Multiple rounds of compressions were performed by the couple, and they were able stabilize him just seven minutes before the plane touched down there, CBS noted.
Raines clarified that the man did not have a heart attack, though his heart did stop. “They believe that multiple factors played a role, mostly due to his low oxygen levels,” she said, the outlet reported (RELATED: Pilot Program: Major Airline Will Weigh Passengers Before International Flights To Maximize Fuel Efficiency)
“We were amped because it’s so awesome to have that feeling, and afterwards, you’re just like, ‘oh wow, we did this, we saved somebody’s life,'” Raines emphasized.