Two medical students from Louisiana State University helped a passenger who became lightheaded and fell during a flight to Greece over the weekend.
The flight crew put out a call for any medical professionals on board. When no one responded, Lauren Bagneris and Heather Duplessis identified themselves as medical students.
The woman fell because of low blood sugar and being overheated. Bagneris and Duplessis calmed her down, cooled her off, and helped her to drink juice and eat food to stabilize her blood sugar.
“Heather and Lauren communicated with a doctor on the ground and took her [blood pressure], pulse and blood sugar,” according to a Facebook post by the LSU Health Sciences Center.
“The patient ended up feeling much better thanks to these two talented doctors in the making and their LSU medical education,” the post said.
The post drew attention and praise online, garnering more than 15,000 likes and 500 comments by Monday morning. Bagneris and Duplessis spoke with WDSU 6 in New Orleans after the flight, saying they felt prepared to help the woman, who turned out to be diabetic and hadn’t eaten for some time while on the flight from New York to Greece.
“We realized that we did analyze the situation correctly, and we were just really grateful that we were able to help her in this situation,” Bagneris told WDSU 6.
Bagneris and Duplessis are second-year medical students who decided to take a vacation before coursework started again. Bagneris plans to focus her studies on cardiology and nutrition, and Duplessis plans to focus on maternal and fetal medicine.
“It kind of reminds you why they challenge us the way they that they do [at medical school], so we will be able to respond in emergent situations like this,” Duplessis told WDSU 6.
Sources
Fox News: “Med students rescue passenger mid-flight during medical emergency.”
Facebook: LSU Health Sciences Center, June 26, 2021.
WDSU 6: “Two LSU Health New Orleans medical students help passenger who fell ill on flight.”
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