Flight Attendants honored with Real American Hero Award for actions during emergency

At PSA, our Flight Attendants go through extensive training to be prepared to jump into action in the event of an emergency.

Two of our Flight attendants, Shyna Dorm and Kelli Sipple, took that training and literally ran with it when presented with a situation that both felt compelled to lend assistance with, even though it was not related to any of their flights or customers.

Just after finishing an afternoon flight on Feb. 10 in Charlotte, a gate agent they know well came aboard their aircraft, N559NN, and requested to take their 02 bottle for a passenger who had collapsed in the boarding area of gate E13.

Kelli asked Captain Anthony Carufe III to approve the removal of the bottle from the aircraft. He said yes, and instead of merely handing the bottle over to the agent, Kelli and Shyna went with the gate agent to lend assistance.

Kelli and Shyna said from the moment they decided to leave the aircraft, their PSA training kicked in. “You don’t think about the steps as they’re spelled out in training. It all happens at once and you automatically just do them,” said Kelli.

On the way to E13, Shyna, who also comes from a family of medical professionals and is taking classes for an RN-BSN degree to become a registered nurse, prepared the bottle for use.

When Kelli and Shyna arrived on scene, two other passengers with medical training – an EMT and a nurse – were giving compressions to the female passenger.

While waiting for airport paramedics to arrive, Shyna applied the oxygen. Kelli stood with other gate agents holding blankets to provide privacy and shield the resuscitation efforts from other customers. When the paramedics arrived, Kelli and Shyna watched as they moved her to the ambulance.

“I think it’s important to note that the gate agent never asked for help,” said Captain Carufe. “All she wanted was our 02 bottle. Kelli and Shyna made a conscious decision to run with the agent to the site and help in any way possible.”

When asked about the events of that day, Kelli and Shyna, who are line partners, said they took away the reminder to not take anything for granted. “Here was this passenger who was just trying to make their next flight and something like this happens. You never know what’s going to happen, so take the time to tell people you care about how you feel, said Shyna.”