May 24, 2017
A quick-thinking New Jersey nurse fresh on the job is responsible for helping save a woman's life while flying JetBlue earlier this week.
Courtney Donlon, 22, was flying into Newark Liberty International Airport from Fort Lauderdale on Monday around 7:30 a.m. when a flight attendant asked if there were any medical professionals aboard, MyCentralJersey.com reported.
Donlon, who hails from East Brunswick and has been working in the Respiratory Care Unit at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital for about eight months, sprung into action.
The crew brought her to a 57-year-old woman who told Donlon that she was experiencing pain that shot up her left arm. Donlon identified the woman's symptoms as those of a heart attack, and while she knew her resources were limited, she grabbed oxygen and aspirin to help thin the woman's blood.
"I can't lie — I was nervous at first being on a plane with limited supplies, but once I realized I was the most qualified person on the plane and someone had to be the confident one, then I could take to the role pretty easily," Donlon, whose mother and sister are also nurses at Robert Wood Johnson, told the publication.
The captain made an emergency landing in Charleston, South Carolina, where the woman was met by paramedics and rushed to the hospital, according to CBS New York.
Hear Donlon tell the story to the news station in the video below:
