Nurse treats infant with pneumonia on airplane

Blue · Aug 21, 2007

This is an odd story that is being discussed at allnurses.com but not for the reasons we would be looking at.

Here we have a child treated by Vietnamese docs for pneumonia, and they can not cure him. They travel by plane, headed for the USA for further treatment. No medical attendant is with this baby just the parent? No oxygen noted to be in use already?

An American nurse is a passenger also, and is called to assist when the infant is having trouble breathing. She is the only HCW onboard.

Of course it can not be H5N1 as the Vietnamese docs would know this, right? They have plenty of experience.

But, how could they travel this way with a sick infant?

http://www.kctv5.com/news/13889602/detail.html
(hat tip widi96/allnurses.com)

http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages...n=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
(hat tip emmanuelgoldstein/allnurses.com)

Niko · Aug 21, 2007

Re: Nurse treats infant with pneumonia on airplane

Thanks Blue and allnurses!

Blue said:
http://www.kctv5.com/news/13889602/detail.html
(hat tip widi96/allnurses.com)

http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages...n=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
(hat tip emmanuelgoldstein/allnurses.com)

KCTV5.com

Nurse Saves Baby On Plane

10-Month-Old Boy Had Trouble Breathing

POSTED: 1:20 pm CDT August 14, 2007
UPDATED: 1:30 pm CDT August 14, 2007
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.kctv5.com/js/13260191/script.js"></script>ST. LOUIS -- Quick action by a St. Louis pediatric emergency room nurse on board an international flight may have helped save the life of a very sick baby.Sunday night, as Ashley Dollarhide, 27, flew home from working in Cambodia, the captain asked for medical help for a passenger. A 10-month-old baby boy was having trouble breathing.The child needed immediate intervention, she said.Dollarhide was the only medically qualified person on board the flight from Taiwan.She gave the child IV fluids and directed the crew to land quickly.The flight was diverted to Seattle, where the baby was taken to the hospital.The child's father was taking him to the U.S. for a serious case of pneumonia. Doctors in Vietnam couldn't help him.

<table id="common_center_content" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 19px;" align="left">Text: Quick Action By Local Nurse Saves Baby </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; font-size: 9pt;" align="left"> Baby Becomes Seriously Ill During Flight </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="story_date_label" style="padding-top: 5px;"> Last Edited: Tuesday, 14 Aug 2007, 12:04 AM CDT </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="story_date_label"> Created: Tuesday, 14 Aug 2007, 12:04 AM CDT</td></tr></tbody></table>
By: Chris Regnier
(KTVI-myFOXstl.com) -- Quick action by a Cardinal Glennon Children?s <st1

lace w:st="on"><st1

lacename w:st="on">Medical</st1

lacename> <st1

lacetype w:st="on">Center</st1

lacetype></st1

lace> nurse on board a plane may have helped save the life of a very sick baby.<o

></o

>
It happened Sunday night as 27 year old Ashley Dollarhide was flying back home to <st1:city w:st="on">St. Louis</st1:city> after a week of volunteer medical work overseas in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1

lace w:st="on">Cambodia</st1

lace></st1:country-region>. Ashley told us about ten hours into the 14 hour flight from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Taiwan</st1:country-region> to <st1

lace w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:city></st1

lace>, the captain came on asking for medical help for a passenger. Ashley rushed to assist and found a 10 month old baby boy named Kyle very pale and having trouble breathing. <o

></o

>
"I knew the second that I looked at him that if we don't take immediate action, he is going to die," Ashley told us.<o

></o

>
Ashley wasted no time putting her five years experience as a pediatric E.R. nurse at Cardinal Glennon to work. She was the only medically qualified person on board. But Ashley wasn't only battling the illness, she was also fighting language barriers since it was an Asian airline.<o

></o

>
Ashley explained, "We were like sprawled out all over the floor drugs everywhere. They're translating to me what it is. I'm telling them in English what I need and they're handing me all the equipment."<o

></o

>
Ashley put an IV directly into little Kyle?s leg bone to get him fluid. But there was still four hours left in the trip to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1

lace w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1

lace></st1:city> and Ashley feared the baby wouldn't make it.<o

></o

>
She told the crew they needed to land sooner, so the plane diverted from its <st1:city w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:city> destination to <st1:city w:st="on">Seattle</st1:city>?s <st1

lace w:st="on"><st1

lacename w:st="on">Sea-Tac</st1

lacename> <st1

lacename w:st="on">International</st1

lacename> <st1

lacetype w:st="on">Airport</st1

lacetype></st1

lace> where the baby was taken to Seattle Children's Hospital.<o

></o

>
"It was crazy. You know I?ve done this for five years but never alone and never on a dark airplane," Ashley told us. She added, "I mean seriously I said a prayer before I put that needle into his bone. I just said ok God, it's just me and you like I need your help because I?m all by myself."<o

></o

>
Ashley's co-workers and family aren't surprised by her actions.<o

></o

>
"She?s very capable of doing that job. She's respondent," said Scott Carruth, the director of the emergency department at Cardinal Glennon.<o

></o

>
Ashley's mother, Ann Benning Dollarhide, said of her daughter, "She is a go getter. She doesn't hesitate. She's a very talented nurse."<o

></o

>
As for being called a hero, Ashley is humble.<o

></o

>
"Honestly I?ve just been thanking God that he gave me the knowledge to be able to help someone in that kind of a situation," Ashley explained.<o

></o

>
Baby Kyle is from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1

lace w:st="on">Vietnam</st1

lace></st1:country-region>. Ashley says Kyle?s father was bringing him to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1

lace w:st="on">U.S.</st1

lace></st1:country-region><o

></o

> to treat a very serious case of pneumonia because doctors in <st1

lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:country-region></st1

lace> said there was nothing else they could do for him there.
As of Monday night, baby Kyle was listed in serious condition in the ICU at Seattle Children's Hospital.

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Nurse treats infant with pneumonia on airplane

Blue

Well-known member

Niko

Editor, Senior Moderator