Nurse comes to stranger’s aid at 30,000 feet

When Venessa Christina heard the overhead page on her vacation return flight asking for anyone with medical training to come forward, she thought the pilot was talking directly to her.

“I had a sliver of fear— I didn’t know what to expect,” said Christina, a two-year UCHealth Memorial Central Hospital nurse assigned to an orthopedic trauma floor. “But I knew I had to get up and do what I could to help.”

Christina joined an orthopedic physician and flight attendants in caring for an elderly, unresponsive passenger. Her experiences and training, and even a conversation a few hours earlier with a friend about the importance of moving from her comfort zone, flooded her.

Soon, Christina had the patient’s vital signs, determined an on-board defibrillator was not necessary, started an IV and gave the patient an inflight bolus. As the patient regained consciousness, she was joined by her traveling companion, who’d been sitting in the back of the plane unaware of any problems. The flight continued and once on the ground, a medical team whisked the patient away for additional treatment. Christina’s fellow passengers gave her a round of applause.

“They were very thankful,” Christina said of the patient and her companion. “But I didn’t do that much. All I could think about was that if one of my family members needed help, I hope someone would step forward. I’m glad to have been that person.”

While she was glad to help a patient, Christina believes the experience helped her, too.

“I love my job and the people I work with,” Christina said of her colleagues and her work with patients recovering from orthopedic and spine injuries, often as a result of trauma. “But I think this incident is the push I needed.”

Christina was born and raised in Indonesia, educated in Canada, and worked in Chicago, Illinois, and Birmingham, Alabama before moving to Colorado Springs. She hopes to pursue a career as a certified registered nurse anesthetist. It will be a challenge, one she knows she can handle after caring for a stranger on a jet traveling more than 400 mph at 30,000 feet.