When Michael Nirenberg jumped to tend to the passenger mid-flight, the 60-year-old male patient had no pulse and was barely breathing, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Indiana, Iowa, and Pennsylvania
- Indiana: While flying from Reno, Nevada, to Chicago last week, Michael Nirenberg, a podiatrist from Crown Point, Indiana, jumped to tend to a passenger who'd become unresponsive midflight. The 60-year-old male patient had no pulse and was barely breathing. Nirenberg and a retired nurse performed chest compressions on the man, checked his blood pressure, and had someone prepare an IV. As the pilot began an emergency landing in Denver, the passenger came to, and once on the ground, the patient was taken to a hospital, NWI Times reports. Nirenberg said, "I'm glad I was there," but that "the whole crew was great. They were doing everything they could to help us. ... In no way was it just me" (Bruce, NWI Times, 8/17).
- Iowa: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is raising awareness about Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) following the death of 20-year-old Disney actor Cameron Boyce. The researchers said SUDEP happens when a person stops breathing after a seizure and their brain doesn't trigger them to start breathing again. The event has been tricky to study as it usually happens when people are asleep and when they're alone. The Iowa researchers are looking into solutions to the event and are working on a device that could notify a person's family if they are in danger because of their epilepsy (Reed, KCRG, 8/19).
- Pennsylvania: UPMC on Aug. 18 opened the new building that will serve as the new facility for Memorial Hospital in York. The new, 130-bed UPMC Pinnacle Memorial Hospital has 102 private rooms, 24 long-term acute care beds, and 12 suites for labor, delivery and recovery. Any patients left at the old hospital were transferred Aug. 18. Elective surgeries started Aug. 19 (Haefner, Becker's Hospital Review, 8/16; De Leon, Fox 43, 8/19; Pinnacle.org, accessed 8/20).