Look Up in the Sky, It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Supernurse!

It was mid-flight and Merlita Layug had settled in to get a little rest. Layug, a licensed vocational nurse with the Health and Human Services Agency, was on an early morning flight with her husband.

It was on the first leg of their return journey home, from Baltimore to Chicago, when Layug heard a flight attendant make an urgent plea for any medical personnel. There was an onboard emergency.

“I was sleeping, but when they called I raised my hand,” said Layug. “I thought I was able to do a good Samaritan deed.”

Despite not feeling well herself, Layug knew she could help. She was led to an older man, maybe around 70 years old who was unconscious and slumped in his seat. Layug checked:  he had a faint, irregular pulse; and was pale, clammy and sweating profusely.

“When I look at the man, his shirt was like water,” she said. “You could squirt the water out and he was dripping with perspiration.”

The man did not respond when she spoke to him and shook him. She immediately requested oxygen and administered it while monitoring the man for changes or signs of improvements.

“I just wanted to help and get this man breathing and conscious again,” she said. “After about 15 minutes of giving him oxygen, all of the sudden he opened his eyes.”

“The first thing I said was ‘Sir, what is your name?’” Layug said.

The man said his name was Charles. She asked him to take two deep breaths for her and he did.

Layug said she then interviewed the man, asking him a series of medical questions to see if she could figure out what happened.

“He started to have a conversation with me so I felt better,” she said. “(Earlier) I was prepared to put him in the aisle and do CPR.”

Layug said she was glad she was able to use her expertise and training from the County and hospitals where she had worked previously.

“I felt so good when he reached my hand and said Thank you so much’ and ‘God bless you,’” she said. “When I said everything was OK, everyone clapped their hands.

“It was just a good feeling when you help someone. “

Before the plane landed, the flight crew approached Layug to thank her and get some information about her.

“They said, ‘Thank you so much, you are a hero,’” she said.

Then the Southwest crew presented her with a voucher for a free flight.

Charles thanked her, too, and promised he would see his doctor.

Layug did have one problem while she was helping Charles. She told the flight crew she was unable to check the man’s blood pressure because the plane noise made it impossible to hear a pulse with the manual blood pressure cuff and stethoscope from the plane’s medical kit. Layug is hoping now Southwest will make a change in their first aid supplies.

“You can’t take blood pressure manually on the airplane, because you can’t hear anything because of the noise from the plane,” she said. “After the episode was cleared, I made a recommendation that they provide digital blood pressure monitors in their planes.”

Hopefully, when Layug chooses to use the flight voucher she received, the flight will be less eventful. But if it isn’t, she’s ready to help again if necessary.