And doctor from La Plata witnessed and participated in a miraculous episode that took place on board a flight traveling from Amsterdam to the airport of Ezeiza. The 36 year old professional saved the life of a Dutch tourist then practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for an hour and a halfas the plane crossed the Atlantic Ocean. “I was unconscious, I had no pulse”recalled the author of the aerial feat.
According to statements released by the protagonist of the story, Jonathan MarecoIn the diary Silver Day and the portal 0221, the dramatic event happened at midnight on Tuesday within a formation of the Dutch airline KLM. The woman is currently interned in San Pablo.
“We came from Amsterdam to Ezeiza. The plane had left at about 4:25 p.m. Arriving in Brazil, They let us know that there is a patient who decompensated and needed assistance. She was unconscious, she had no pulse”, declared the doctor who became a true hero.
Once the crew alerted about the woman’s condition, Mareco approached the patient and carried out “medical maneuvers to keep the airway patent and that hypoglycemia does not occur”, that is, to avoid an abrupt drop in levels glucose that prevents normal functioning of the body.
Illustrative image. Photo: Telam
A colleague from the province of Chaco also intervened on the scene, but Mareco said he did not remember her name. What is significant is that the Argentine doctor spent an hour and a half performing CPR on the tourist in mid-flight.
“It was terrible because we didn’t know where his things were, there was a language barrier, little space to work, turbulence and people crowded to watch”, observed the specialist, who also works as a teacher at the National University of La Plata.
While Mareco continued with the maneuvers of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the pilot of the plane diverted his route in the direction of the San Pablo Airport, where he undertook an emergency landing. Even when medical assistance was already on the way to act quickly, the doctor did not stop for a second.
Next, a team of local doctors led the 42-year-old woman to a stretcher -with the help of Mareco himself and the collaborator from Chaco- and They took her to a hospital in San Pablowhere she was hospitalized as a result of decompensation, the reasons for which are unknown.
The mysterious Aerolíneas Argentinas plane that flew over the city of La Plata
Jonatan Mareco, in the right place and time
Likewise, it was confirmed that the presence of the doctor on the plane was apparently fortuitous since the flight was overbooked and he almost ran out of travel.
Jonatan Mareco explained to the La Plata portals that he was returning from the Netherlands after finishing his participation in a GRAPPA (Group for Research and Evaluation of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis) congress, where he presented a research paper linked to the branch of rheumatology.
“Luckily, everything happened near Brazil. If it happened earlier, it would have been worse.”recounted the doctor, who described the situation as a “quite chaotic” experience.
Both he and the professional from Chaco received a massive applause by the passengers as a sign of gratitude and recognition for the feat they carried out.
CA/ED