Reserve Airman in training helps save infant

by Airman 1st Class Madelyn McCullough
446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

2/15/2013 - MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. -- A McChord Reservist saved his first life when a baby went into cardiac arrest at the Madigan Army Medical Center emergency room Feb. 12.

Airman 1st Class Barrett Rayan, aeromedical evacuation technician in training at the 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, was near the end of his 12-hour night shift when a baby was brought in because of low oxygen levels.

"The baby was having what are called retractions, which looks like their skin is being sucked under their ribs because they are trying aggressively to breathe," Rayan said.

In the ER, a team of two resident doctors, an attending physician, three nurses and Rayan, the only medic, began pumping oxygen into the infant's lungs to try and raise his oxygen level back to normal.

Multiple efforts were made to insert tubes and create an airway for him but nothing was working. They had to insert a paralytic so that the baby's muscles would relax enough to accept the tubing. When doing so, the doctor knew the baby's oxygen level would plummet, but he was not expecting cardiac arrest.

"The baby turned blue," Rayan said. "I saw his O2 stats hit zero; zero oxygen."

It's a rare occurrence, he said. One nurse, who'd been working in the ER for five years, had never before seen a pediatric cardiac arrest.

To keep the child's heart beating, they had to perform CPR, which is different than doing CPR on an adult. They wrap their hands around the baby's body and place their thumbs on his chest.

Rayan, who has never done CPR on a live person before, took the second turn.

"They told me I was up next and I went in," he said. "Your training kind of takes over when you're in a situation like that."

After continuous compressions at 100 beats per minute for nearly 15 minutes, the baby's body finally accepted the tubes. He could breathe normally again and his oxygen levels shot back up to the healthy level.

Aside from the shaky start, the effort was a success and the team handled it the best way an emergency situation can be handled, Rayan said. Everyone stayed calm, on point, and did what they needed to do.

"The fact that they can do their job and yet still keep such a lighthearted mood in such a serious situation is really important thing because if the kid had not made it, it's hard on a lot of people," he said.

Rayan has been at Madigan nearly three weeks out of the three month training period he is assigned. So far he has completed five and a half months of medical technical training and one and a half months of training at a hospital. He still has seven months of total training left. Even though he is a beginner in the field, he was successful in helping save a child's life.

"It's a good feeling knowing everything I learned really can make a difference" he said. "We have a lot of info we have to learn during tech school; it's very fast paced. When the time comes you either know or you don't, and I knew."