Navy Lt. Michelle Lea: Saving the world one person at a time

IslandPacket.com tells the story of Navy Lt. Michelle Lea, a physician assistant, on her way to work when she came across the scene of an accident in which a hulking garbage truck had T-boned a pickup truck;

The pickup driver, the lone occupant, was thrown to the passenger side on impact. The truck’s heavily tinted windows prevented a clear view of the interior. Lea climbed quickly into the truck’s bed and looked through the rear window.

The driver was unconscious and struggling to breathe.

Lea pushed the upper half of her body through the small window and began performing a “jaw thrust” — a maneuver designed to open the man’s airways without destabilizing his spine.

It worked.

He started breathing.

Paramedics soon arrived and took the injured driver to Beaufort Memorial Hospital.

The man, whose identity has not been released, survived and continues to recover.

The Navy Public Affairs Office reports;

“My first thought was that there was no way the driver was alive,” said Lea. “The garbage truck was completely sitting on top of the driver’s seat.”

Doing what she was trained to do, Lea immediately performed a jaw thrust, which improved the accident victim’s breathing. Soon after, the victim began to regain consciousness, becoming combative and disoriented. Lea stabilized his cervical spine as best she could and remained with the patient until emergency medical personnel arrived on scene.

“Lt. Lea is an exemplary naval officer and an outstanding physician assistant,” said Capt. Joan Queen, the commanding officer of Naval Hospital Beaufort, who presented Lea with her award. “Her actions upon arriving at the scene of an accident show that she is not only a dedicated health care provider, but an asset to the command, the Navy, and even the local community.”

Category: Navy, Real Soldiers