{"id":5526,"date":"2013-11-18T22:10:42","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T04:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5526"},"modified":"2013-11-18T22:13:44","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T04:13:44","slug":"does-anyone-speak-czech-on-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5526","title":{"rendered":"“Does Anyone Speak Czech On Board”?"},"content":{"rendered":"



Cruising at 35,000′ (10,668m), halfway into our eight hour journey, my finally, I think I am asleep<\/em> slumber was interrupted by turbulence. <\/p>\n

A flight attendant then began asking a passenger across the aisle to “get up”, “get up”, “Sir you must take your seat. The captain has illuminated the seat belt sign”.<\/p>\n

I glanced to my right and was astonished to see a tall man lying on the floor, from one end of the 777’s bulkhead to another. <\/p>\n

The flight attendant attempted to lift the passenger, without success. “OK, I will have to call the Captain<\/em>“. <\/p>\n

A number of flight attendants quickly congregated just in front of my somewhat cozy exit row seat. A large first aid suitcase appeared along with a defibrillator<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The lead flight attendant sought assistance: “Ladies & gentlemen, we have a medical situation and are looking for a doctor. Please ring your call button and we will find you.” <\/p>\n

Two physicians appeared. The seasoned flight attendant asked for ID. The first doctor – well tanned from a vacation – said he did not carry a card. The flight attendant asked where he practiced and if he knew Dr. _____________. “He’s an opthamologist, right?”. “Yes, ok, you’re a doctor”. <\/p>\n

The second doctor was an Army captain on his way to Afghanistan. <\/p>\n

Three nurses appeared as well. <\/p>\n

They quickly went to work, checking the sedate man’s vitals including his pulse, blood pressure and temperature. <\/p>\n

More communication with the Captain. <\/p>\n

The passenger and his wife spoke little English. <\/p>\n

The medical volunteers decided to check next for diabetes. “Does anyone on board have a diabetes monitor?” (I have likely erred in the name of this device).<\/p>\n

Two passengers appeared with their devices….<\/p>\n

The medical team and flight crew were making little progress talking with the man’s wife. Soon, the lead flight attendant sought another volunteer “Does anyone on board speak Czech<\/a>?”<\/p>\n

The odds were loooooooooong, I thought, now standing to give the passenger assistance crowd more space. <\/p>\n

Yes! A young Czech woman appeared. Communication happened. What were the odds?<\/p>\n

90 minutes of flying time remained. The passenger was stable. We continued to jet east, seeking a sunrise. <\/p>\n

More conversation with the Captain. We seemed to accelerate a bit. There would be no circling. Landing was prompt and foggy. I don’t recall such a direct approach on any previous flight. <\/p>\n

All passengers were asked to stay seated while the paramedics walked on board and attended to the patient. <\/p>\n

Remarkably, he walked off the plane with them….<\/p>\n

I fondly recall this event as a wonderful example of human to human kindness. I did not observe any<\/em> passenger grumbling, rather I enjoyed plenty of grace that recent night, at 35,000 feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cruising at 35,000′ (10,668m), halfway into our eight hour journey, my finally, I think I am asleep slumber was interrupted by turbulence. A flight attendant then began asking a passenger across the aisle to “get up”, “get up”, “Sir you must take your seat. The captain has illuminated the seat belt sign”. I glanced to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5526"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5529,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5526\/revisions\/5529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}