Ten members of the Inflight Service Team who helped save the life of a passenger who suffered a medical event on board flight CX764 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong in February 2023 have been awarded Cathay's "Thoughtful Award" in the annual Niki and Betsy Awards programme. The award honours their team spirit, sense of duty and compassion, as well as an outstanding application of knowledge acquired through training.
After a female Vietnamese passenger in her 30s collapsed during the final hour of the flight, the team of cabin crew, led by Senior Purser Lilian Hilario and Inflight Service Manager Raquel Martin, administered an automatic external defibrillator and performed three cycles of CPR before she regained consciousness. While Lilian and Raquel continued to care for the passenger, other members of the team took on extra duties to prepare the plane for landing, move passengers from Economy to the Business Class cabin to free up seat space, and provide a clear passage for paramedics, and then ensured an orderly exit by passengers – all while avoiding creating undue anxiety or delay for those on board with onward connections.
Lilian says that receiving the Thoughtful Award has been a humbling experience; while Raquel comments: "Where else would you see team members – many of whom worked together as a team for the first time on this flight – just click and collaborate seamlessly in an emergency? The teamwork was amazing, and we had this confidence and trust in each other. For me, that is one of the best parts of working for Cathay."
