This week, we reported how a doctor saved a passenger's life on an Air India flight. The professional spent five hours monitoring the traveler who suffers cardiac arrest twice while flying from London to Mumbai.
However, a doctor is not always on board when there is a medical emergency across the skies. As such, flight attendants often find themselves as the saviors when passengers seek urgent help.
Life-saving skills
Subsequently, crew members are trained to deal with such cases. Simple Flying caught up with Thomas Ney, Divisional Senior Vice President Service Delivery, Emirates, to find out how the airline’s staff are prepared to handle inflight emergencies.
There were two incidents in the space of a month in the summer of 2022 that saw Emirates cabin crew save the lives of passengers from cardiac arrest. These two cases join several others. For instance, in March 2021, an Emirates crew member saved the life of a passenger on a flight between Dubai and Chennai. The employee gave the traveler cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on flight EK 544.
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Preparing well
Emirates’ cabin crew members are trained through a combination of practical, classroom, and online initiatives. Notably, the Emirates Cabin Crew Training College provides crew members with a range of courses from security to service, safety and emergency to medical response training.
Rigorous training is offered over a span of eight weeks to equip and prepare cabin crew to confidently manage any medical incident on board. Additionally, medical training is provided to cabin crew on all aspects of first aid. This includes dealing with various medical emergencies onboard—for example, collapsed customers, sudden illnesses, injuries, and emergency childbirth. Emirates flight attendants are extensively trained in the life-saving skills of CPR and how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) machine.
Ney broke the program down with the following:
“All training is provided by our certified aviation first aid instructors at the Emirates Cabin Crew Training College. Our cabin crew also complete pre-requisite online courses that cover theoretical aspects followed by practical classroom training. Practical methods include skill practices, CPR-AED assessments, and medical scenarios.”
Keeping the momentum going
Ney added that crew knowledge and skills are put to the test each year with recurrent training to ensure they are equipped with up-to-date and relevant training.
“Beyond dealing with the medical emergency, the provided training equips cabin crew with skills on how to reassure passengers who may also be experiencing distress. Cabin crew are supported by Ground Medical Support team. Ground Medical Support is a team of doctors and nurses who are available 24/7 to support and advise crew on medical emergencies. Post any medical emergency, support is extended and offered to our cabin through Emirates’ Employee Assistance Program and Peer Support service.”
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As Emirates actively seeks new recruits to join its crew across the airline’s network, the company will be keen to ensure new members are proficiently trained to deal with inflight emergencies. While critical incidents are rare, having a helping hand on board will undoubtedly go a long way.
What are your thoughts about how Emirates crew members are trained to deal with inflight emergencies? What do you make of the overall initiatives involved? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
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