Flight nurse creates calm amid crisis, offers hugs

The intensity of a helicopter ride amid a medical emergency is extremely nerve-wracking, but UCHealth LifeLine flight nurse Leanna Harpman is known for her soothing care.

“She’s good at team management, helping people calm down – being the eye of the storm when there’s chaos going on,” said Ryan Bushmaker, a fellow flight nurse.

When a 12-year-old girl was in full respiratory failure, on a flight from UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Harpman recalls feeling “very concerned – she couldn’t speak, because she was having such a hard time breathing.”

For about 12 hours on Sept. 18, 2015, young Paityn Saldana struggled for air. A combination of three viruses, asthma treatment and side effects of an anti-thyroid medication developed into symptoms “like an elephant sitting on your chest, and a building on top of that,” said Saldana, now 16, “just not being able to take a full breath.”

The turning point happened on that flight, said her mother, Jenifer Schon.

“I always say that drug that they pushed was the beginning of, ‘We’re going to make it,’” Schon said, adding that the people on the helicopter “really were the beginning of my child’s life being saved.”

“Leanna didn’t just care for my child, who was literally in this life-threatening situation, but she took the time to care for me, the mom,” Schon said, adding that Harpman comforted her on the flight, patting her leg, talking to her through the headset and giving her a hug at the end – “just the little extra things she put into that.”

Saldana didn’t remember much about the flight besides a mask that covered her face in condensation, and how when she tried to remove it, a voice intervened. Nearly four years later, on June 3, 2019, she heard that same voice: Harpman surprised Saldana on her 16th birthday.

The hospital was a stop on a scavenger hunt that Schon, who works in UCHealth business services, set up to highlight 16 places that made a difference in her daughter’s life.

“Meeting her again, it was cool because then I had a face with the lady who kept telling me to put the mask back on,” Saldana said.

This fall, Saldana begins her junior year at Thompson Valley High School in Loveland. She’s doing much better. In November 2015, she had a procedure to treat her thyroid. And she’s now a competitive swimmer – an exercise her doctor told her would strengthen her lungs.

“It was fun to see her so much older,” Harpman said. “And she was so thankful and just sweet. I’m so happy we could be there and do that for her.”

Harpman – a nurse with 26 years of experience, including 10 as a flight nurse – has two daughters of her own, one of whom is also 16.

Her manager, Duane Rorie, said she’s “extremely well-liked and regarded” among colleagues.

“She is positive, consistently demonstrates clinical expertise, searches for ways we can improve care, and is very patient and family focused,” he said. “…Leanna sets the standard for being a flight nurse rock star, and I am thankful to have her on the LifeLine team.”

For Saldana’s sweet-16 surprise, LifeLine team members signed a huge card wishing her a happy birthday. And Harpman, on her day off, welcomed the girl to the MCR helipad with a hug.

“I think all of us are very willing to do that,” Harpman said. “We make a big impact on their lives, and they make a big impact on ours, too.”