Emergency Nurses Answer the Call

As I write this message, I just have returned from the 2009 ENA Annual Conference in Baltimore. My early morning flight to Boston was uneventful, which in air travel is a very good thing. Not so for Mari Hoover-McGarry and her husband David McGarry, ENA members from Florida. They were on the final leg of their journey leaving Atlanta when they heard the flight attendant announce, “Are there any doctors or nurses on this flight?" Mari leaped from her chair and ran to the front of the plane. A man from Ireland had experienced a syncopal episode and had vomited. Mari's husband, also an emergency nurse, and a doctor also responded. The man had no radial pulse, a weak central pulse, was unconscious, pale, cool, and diaphoretic. He woke up briefly while Mary was assessing his ABCs (airway, breathing, and circulation). She reassessed him frequently, but he once again passed out. The doctor was a urologist, so Mari assumed the role of the team leader. The team was able to get the patient into a wheelchair and transport him to the rear of the plane so they could lay him on the floor. Mari administered oxygen while David applied the automatic external defibrillator (AED) to assess his cardiac rhythm. The man was in sinus rhythm with premature ventricular contractions (PVC). Together, they elevated his legs and started an intravenous line. Air traffic control granted the pilot priority status, and they arrived at the airport quickly, with Palm Beach Rescue Squad waiting. The patient was transported to the hospital immediately on arrival. Although the flight was a little more than an hour long, Mari remarked, “That was the longest hour of my life.” As they disembarked the aircraft, the pilot told the team, “If I ever have an emergency, I would want you to be there!”

Mari and David credit their quick action from knowledge they had gained at a lecture on Airline Emergencies at the ENA Southeast Seaboard Symposium they attended in 2002 in Virginia.

At the conclusion of the flight, the patient's wife embraced them and thanked them. Mari said, “At that moment, I was so proud to be an emergency nurse and be prepared to make a difference!”

Mari and David are heroes. When I talked to Mari, she didn't see herself as a hero, but someone who was at the right place, at the right time, and with the right skills to help her fellow passenger.

Our members continuously volunteer their services in many ways. Some teach children and older adults about injury prevention. Others serve on ENA committees and as state and chapter leaders. Still others go into disaster areas serving on DMAT teams and international humanitarian efforts. And some put their lives on the line to care for our men and women in uniform.

As I end my year as President of the Emergency Nurses Association, I want you to know how honored I am to represent 37,000 heroes, each one making a difference, one life at a time.