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Holloman Airman's vigilance saves life

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Quion Lowe
  • 49th Wing Public Affairs
Notifying patients when to go back to see a doctor is only one of the responsibilities held by 49th Medical Group front desk clerks. With the phone ringing constantly and patients coming in and out of the waiting room all day, keeping track of who is where can be a daunting task.

For Senior Airman Hali Bean, 49th MDG Family Health front desk clerk, looking beyond this commotion and ensuring a patient’s safety was the difference between life and death, Jan. 18, 2019.

Bean was performing her normal duties when a man approached her looking for his wife. He had left her in the waiting room for a moment while he went to the pharmacy and wanted to know if she was being seen by a technician.

“He told me his wife recently had a stroke,” said Bean. “We went back and found out that she had not been pulled back by a technician yet and we both assumed she was in the restroom.”

Bean returned to her desk and continued to help patients. When she noticed the man was still waiting for his wife by the restroom, she decided to go check on her. Once Bean got into the restroom she saw the woman unconscious on the floor.

Although Bean is not qualified to help this woman, she quickly realized there was something else she could do.

“I went to the closest clinic to let them know there was a patient on the floor and a code blue needed to be initiated,” said Bean.

From that point, the entire clinic was alerted to the situation. Doctors, nurses and technicians all rushed to help the woman.

One of the technicians who assisted was Senior Airman Selena Edison, a 49th MDG aerospace medical technician.

Edison said she was not the first technician on the scene; she did what she could to keep the patient engaged, gather as much information as she could, and assist in helping transport the woman to an ambulance.

Even though Edison was just doing her job, her previous experiences of treating the woman made the situation more tense.

“I had actually seen this patient a few times and it was scarier for me because I wanted to make sure she was okay,” said Edison. “She came back about a week later to thank us for helping her and said she is doing a lot better, thankfully.”

Edison and Bean, however, were not the only Airmen at the 49th MDG who provided quick assistance -- a large group of skilled medical specialists bolted to the aid of the woman.

“Our protocol is to get to the code blue as soon as possible,” said Edison. “We all rush to those things, it is a big deal.”

Bean said she was glad she found the woman in the restroom instead of another patient finding her because of how fast she was able to act. She got the rest of the staff involved before the situation could get any worse.

The timeliness of the medical staff is something Bean was impressed with, especially given how unpredictable medical emergencies can be.

“All the medical personnel responded within seconds after the code blue was called,” said Bean. “This does not happen often in a small clinic like ours. The medical personnel that responded to the code made it look like they have done it a hundred times before.”