{"id":8031,"date":"2018-02-21T13:45:01","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T19:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/?p=8031"},"modified":"2018-02-21T13:45:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T19:45:01","slug":"heroes-cedar-rapids-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/2018\/02\/21\/heroes-cedar-rapids-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroes in Cedar Rapids"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Wednesday, February 14, the Envoy team in Cedar Rapids (CID) gathered for a mystery \u2018all-hands\u2019 meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way as a team, and this is a story all about teamwork,\u201d opened Envoy CID General Manager Frank Dombrowski. \u201cWhat happened that night in January showed how we can come together to achieve great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that, the station realized why they were called together.<\/p>\n

On January 3, a customer on another airline experienced a serious medical issue while in flight. Due to the severity of the incident, the Captain made the decision to divert to the closest available airport, Cedar Rapids.<\/p>\n

There were just two small problems with that approach \u2013 that airline\u00a0doesn\u2019t operate in CID and the station doesn\u2019t usually handle larger Boeing 737 aircraft.<\/p>\n

Planning is everything<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"IMG_CID_Real_American_Hero_Feb_2018-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Medical diversions are part of running a safe operation, and are planned for in advance. Accepting the unique challenges of the situation, the Envoy team gathered the facts and prepared themselves for the diversion.<\/p>\n

With the aircraft en route, Envoy and Iowa Public Safety officials worked together to coordinate their response once the aircraft was on the ground, knowing that every second counts in a medical emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions were challenging and the team was working in -15 degree weather when the aircraft arrived,\u201d said Lead Agent Shawn Mercer in his Real American Hero nomination. \u201cOn top of this, the team worked two inbound flights from Dallas\/Fort Worth and Chicago at the same time!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank whoever scheduled our shifts that night \u2013 we had some new folks join the team and the extra staffing really helped out,\u201d explained Station Agent Mary Baloch-Hadish. \u201cEverything we needed, they were on it. There was a lot of back and forth that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aircraft on the ground, and another challenge<\/h3>\n

\"IMG_CID_Real_American_Hero_Feb_2018-8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the aircraft landed, the Envoy team helped park the plane and brought stairs to allow public safety officials to get to the ill passenger. Upon inspection, it was clear that it would be hard to get him safely off of the aircraft in his condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to get creative,\u201d said Mary. \u201cWe knew that our other airline colleagues in CID had a large beltloader, so we asked them to borrow it. Carefully, we positioned the belt at the rear door of the aircraft and the individual was brought down to the ramp, where an ambulance took him to hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough all of this, we kept in touch to keep all the pieces moving,\u201d said Station Agent Rhonda Leith. \u201cI think the infrastructure at CID really made\u00a0this possible. We\u2019re all here for each other and willing to step up when it gets tough or challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caring for Customers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"IMG_CID_Real_American_Hero_Feb_2018-14\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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On the ground, the Envoy team provided complimentary drinks and snacks to help make the diversion as comfortable as possible. Once the ill passenger and his checked bags were removed from the aircraft, the plane continued on to its final destination.<\/p>\n

\u201cAirports like Cedar Rapids really are a community,\u201d said Jude Mayeux, Envoy VP of Customer Services. \u201cAnd when issues like this come up, different airlines\u00a0come together to help out. That\u2019s what is so great about this. The Cedar Rapids team \u2013 everyone from Envoy to our TSA, public safety and airport colleagues \u2013 did their best that night. It really was a team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to our Heroes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"IMG_CID_Real_American_Hero_Feb_2018-12\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mystery solved, the station came together on Wednesday, February 14 to recognize our heroes and share lunch together. Here\u2019s to our Real American Heroes: Mary Baloch-Hadish, Souvenior Kabua, Rhonda Leith, Lauri Patten, Kaelen Tendick and Latonja Wright. Thank you for your bravery and teamwork!<\/p>\n

The Real American Hero\u00a0award is a special recognition program for employees of American and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Awards recognize those who go above and beyond during a medical emergency at work. Nominations are submitted by coworkers and awards come with a $1,000 cash prize and a very special hero cape<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, February 14, the Envoy team in Cedar Rapids (CID) gathered for a mystery \u2018all-hands\u2019 meeting. \u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way as a team, and this is a story all about teamwork,\u201d opened Envoy CID General Manager Frank Dombrowski. \u201cWhat happened that night in January showed how we can come together to achieve great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":42186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[105,64,144,342,343,173,86,51,68,344,187,345,63,90,293],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}