Person of Interest: April Lopez of McAllen, Texas

This month, AMRI recognizes April Lopez, a Board Certified Family Practice Nurse Practitioner from McAllen, Texas. While onboard an American Airlines flight from Paris, Ms. Lopez became aware of an emergency situation. 

Another passenger on board was suffering from uncontrollable bleeding.

Assessing the situation quickly, Lopez recognized the symptoms as belonging to gastro intestinal bleeding caused by cirrhosis of the liver and she was aware that the patient was bleeding out. Video footage taken by another passenger shows her removing the man’s shirt and placing the plane’s equipped AED on him. 

Lopez is credited with saving his life but she does not consider herself a hero. She states that her instincts just kicked in and she did what she does every day on the job. “You need to be completely vested in what you are doing,” she said, “and if you’re not, you need to get out of the profession.”

You can read more and see a video here.