Hospital Workers Revive Passenger in Mid-Flight

BURBANK -- One air traveler’s unlucky day may have just turned into his luckiest of all.

A 53-year-old man suffered a heart attack while travelling on a Southwest flight from Sacramento to Burbank Tuesday.

Lucky for him, thirty-five hospital workers were onboard. They were headed to a union bargaining session when they heard someone shouting “code blue” from the back of the plane.

In hospitals, a “code blue” indicates someone’s heart has stopped.

39-year-old Erin O’Neil, a registered nurse at Mercy San Juan Hospital, ran to the back of the plane and noticed the man, unconscious in his seat.

“I immediately clicked into work mode,” said O’Neil.

O’Neil and registered nurse David Lei, 40, used a devicethat administers mouth-to-mouth resuscitation provided by a flightattendant and revived the man.

Medical assistant Lanette Silva grabbed a defibrillator, but hedidn’t need it.

The workers said the man, whose identity was not immediatelyavailable, was able to walk off the plane to meet waitingparamedics.