Wayland paramedic, nurse sister help woman during medical emergency on a plane
WAYLAND -- A Wayland firefighter paramedic and her sister, a nurse at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, are being credited for helping to save a woman's life last week. The sisters were on a flight from Boston to Fort Meyers when the woman became unresponsive.
When flight attendants requested anyone with a medical background to come forward, paramedic Lindsay Byrne and nurse Nicole Kelly stepped up along with a firefighter from Florida.
"Crew had headed to the front of the plane," said Byrne. "And then a couple minutes later, they announced, 'Looking for any medical personnel on the flight.'"
They determined the woman was having a diabetic emergency.
"We realized that patient was a diabetic, and we brought her out. And from there, we just kind of use sugar packets and what we had on hand to do what we could to help her regain consciousness," Byrne said.
Typically, when firefighters and nurses respond to a scene, they have all the equipment they need. But in this case, they were off duty and in a plane, so they had to improvise.
"Up there, we kind of had to make do with what we had. So like orange juice and sugar packets under the tongue until she regained consciousness, which was fine. It worked out great," Byrne said.
The two stayed with the woman until the plane landed where she was transported to a local hospital, where she is recovering.
"Obviously, being twins and growing up together and everything we kind of knew what each other was looking for. And if I didn't see a sign right away, she could pick up on it, and we kind of worked off of each other," Kelly said.
Wayland Fire Chief Neil McPherson told WBZ-TV how proud he was Byrne.
"Obviously, we're extremely proud of Lindsay," said Wayland Fire Chief Neil McPherson. "And I think it speaks volumes about her personality, her morals, and our ethics because she did not hesitate to jump into action."
Byrne has been with the Wayland Fire Department since 2018.
