On a flight from Los Angeles, California to Hilo, Hawaii, everything seemed like a normal day. However, as Megan Bias '19 and Allison Hudak '19, both Biology graduates and former UD EMS, would soon find out, this flight was anything but average.
Bias and Hudak originally had planned on going on a marine biology trip through the University of Dayton. But, this seemingly fun trip quickly turned into a critical situation. About an hour and a half into the flight, a flight attendant noticed a passenger had become unresponsive. The attendant sent out an urgent request to the cabin, asking first for any doctors on board to self-identify using their call light.
Bias and Hudak were immediately ready to spring into action when necessary. Alongside a couple of other nurses and doctors, they were able to revive and then stabilize the passenger for two hours until the plane could make an emergency landing in San Francisco, California.
Bias said, "You never know when you will be called to help someone, but you can quickly work together with other medical professionals to provide the best possible care even when you are 40,000 feet above the ground."
Neither Bias nor Hudak were nervous, but completely trusted the training they had received.
“I was not nervous. This is the type of situation UD EMS had prepared me for and I was confident in my skills and training,” Hudak said. “Afterwards I was just thankful the patient was stable, and am thankful for the Good Samaritans in the medical field that were not afraid to stand up and save a life.”
During her time at UD EMS, Allison Hudak served 656 volunteer hours in her senior year. She will be pursuing a Master’s of Science in Bioengineering with a concentration in Bioengineering Instrumentation here at the University of Dayton.
Megan Bias served as crew chief for UD EMS and dedicated 1,327 hours of service. After graduation, she will be attending Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health to get her Masters in Public Health with a focus in global health and infectious diseases this Fall. In addition to majoring in Biology, she also minored in Psychology and Medical Humanities.
The advice Allison Hudak and Megan Bias would give to any incoming Freshman interested in the medical field or the UD EMS program would be to get involved with campus safety. Hudak said, “UD EMS will prepare you for situations you never thought you’d be in. Get involved with the safety of our campus, and the knowledge you gain from working with UD EMS will take you far beyond your years working on campus.”
Bias’s mother, Sharon Bias, reiterated this point saying, “Another reminder that the UD EMS experience is priceless and reaches well beyond the UD campus!”
The UD EMS class of 2019 had 7 students who were accepted into medical school.