Just two hours into a 10-hour commercial flight, Air Force Capt. Theresa Ziegler was about to take a nap when she heard an announcement from flight attendants asking if any medical personnel were on the plane.
Ziegler, a flight nurse assigned to 18th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, walked down the aisle and found flight attendants helping a man in distress, an Air Force news release says.
“She noted the man’s pale skin and how he struggled to respond to questions,” the news release says. “She immediately began treating him with the aid of a civilian nurse and spoke with the wife, getting a medical background and other pertinent information to relay to the pilots.”
As the man’s condition stabilized, the flight’s crew considered diverting the flight, a common response to a sick passenger, but enlisted Ziegler to help decide if they should.
She first briefed the pilots on his condition and then spoke with a doctor over the plane’s radio. With Ziegler and the civilian nurse on board to monitor the man for the rest of the journey, the decision was made to continue with the flight.
She helped keep the man stable for the next eight hours until the plane landed, and paramedics were able to treat him.
Later that week, the man’s family told Ziegler that he was doing well in the hospital and on his way to making a full recovery.
For her actions during the in-flight emergency, Ziegler was awarded the Air and Space Achievement Medal on Feb. 18 at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The medal recognized airmen and Space Force Guardians “for outstanding achievement or meritorious service rendered specifically on behalf of the Air Force.”
Maj. David Madrid, 18th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron clinical management flight commander, praised Ziegler for treating the sick man quickly and effectively even though she had no time to prepare or any prior knowledge about her patient.
Ziegler said that her experience as a flight nurse had prepared her for such an emergency.
“My job out here is the exact same thing I did on that flight,” Ziegler said in the news release. “Because of that, I was able to better understand what he might be going through and how the change in altitude was affecting his condition.”