Local nurse credited with saving man having medical emergency on flight from Florida

DAYTON — A Dayton-area nurse helped save a man’s life 30,000 feet in the air.

A passenger on an Allegiant Airlines flight heading from Florida to Dayton had a medical emergency. Workers on the flight asked if any medical professionals were able to help the man.

At that point, Katheryn Bailey, who flying home to Vandalia from her vacation, jumped into action to help the man.

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She stabilized the man having severe chest pains but 30 minutes later, his condition grew much worse, even with strong medication.

“About three minutes into the Nitroglycerine, the patient is unresponsive. He just like totally went out,” Bailey told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell.

Bailey said she told everyone around her that she need help moving the man.

“Passengers helped me get him out and down in the aisle. I tore his shirt and put the defibrillator on him,” she described.

Bailey was grateful the airline had everything she needed, including a defibrillator. She relied on her medical training, not thinking about being 30,000 feet up in the air.

“It probably would have really freaked me out. I just concentrated on saving his life,” she said.

After stabilizing the man, she told the flight crew that she believed the man needed a doctor and hospital care immediately upon landing. The flight crew then decided to do an emergency landing in Cincinnati. Once they landed, paramedics rushed onboard and took the man to a hospital.

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After that, those on the flight cheered for Bailey.

“They were coming up to me and thanking me,” she recalled.

Bailey didn’t want to be called a hero and said she just did what she felt was the right thing.

“I’m just like, ‘Wow, did this really happen?’ Seriously, it was an overwhelming experience,” Bailey said.

Bailey did not learn the man’s name but said she was told he was stable by the paramedics that took him off the airplane.

News Center 7 reached out to the airline and officials at the airport for more information on the man’s condition. We’re awaiting a response.

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