I Sat Next To A Hero!

On a recent flight from Atlanta to Nassau the flight attendant announced that they were looking for a doctor or nurse to attend to an ill passenger at the front of the plane. We were less than an hour into the two hour flight.

The gentleman next to me, Clint Turley from Virginia, leaped over me like a surly jackrabbit and ran toward first class. I has spoken with Clint earlier in the flight, and he is an Emergency Medical Technician, and when duty called he did not hesitate. He went into "EMT Mode" and went to help.

I had never been on a plane that had to make a medical emergency landing. They soon announced that we were putting down in Jacksonville, FL. Kudos to the flight crew, as they had that plane on the ground fast. The pressure in my inner-ear was the evidence that this was not your regular landing. Everyone on that Delta flight did what they had to do during this unfortunate incident.

Clint and a nurse stayed with the ill man until they helped the paramedics get him onto the ambulance that was waiting on the tarmac. Apparently he was fine. They had thought maybe a heart attack, but then did not think it was that serious.

I appreciate that there are people like Clint to jump in to help on a moments notice. We were 90 minutes late getting to our final destination, but it is things like this that make you realize that late flights do not matter in the big scope of the world. I hope the man in the front of the plane is okay.

Clint and his wife were on their way to a relaxing week in The Bahamas, I hope that the rest of their vacation was calm, fun and involved drinks with little paper umbrellas. The flight was enough excitement for one trip!

Have A Great Day.

thom

FOLLOW UP: Three days later while walking through the Marina Village at the Atlantis Resort I passed a restaurant with outdoor seating, and there was Clint and his wife Leslie eating with their friends and family. Small world! I stopped and talked with them about our airplane experience and the nice time we all were having in The Bahamas. They are really nice people and I was glad to see they were having such a nice trip. I told them I wrote about Clint on my blog... I hope they come by and see this post!