Situation: Collapsed male receives help from teacher and student pilot during recurrent medical training class.

Location: Savannah, Georgia, USA (training facility)

Profile: Middle-aged male with a history of allergic reactions to wheat that was unknown to first responders.

Incident: During the debut of MedAire’s recurrent medical-Tempus IC course in April 2010, the MedAire medical instructor was asked by a panic-stricken bystander to come to the scene of a collapsed male in another classroom. The instructor grabbed the standard classroom supplies—Tempus IC, automated external defibrillator (AED) and medical kit—to perform the initial patient assessment.

The medical instructor used the Tempus IC unit to monitor the patient’s vital signs, including blood pressure, pulse oximetry and capnometry. At first blush, he thought the patient was diabetic until he noticed an outbreak of hives on his face. As it turns out, the patient is allergic to wheat and he unknowingly had a sandwich with wheat bread for lunch.

After initial assessment, when the patient was stable, a student pilot from the MedAire-RDT class captured vital signs using the Tempus IC and placed the patient on oxygen. At that time, local EMS arrived, received all pertinent vital sign information to feel comfortable with transporting the patient, who was treated at the local hospital and released later that night.