Kevin Sweeney, MSN, RN, CCRN, CEN, NEA-BC, serves as a manager of a Medical-Surgical floor at PAH, preparing patients for surgery and helping them recover from procedures. However, from time to time, Sweeney takes patient care to a whole new level: 36,000 feet in the air. Every few weeks throughout the year, he embarks on five-to-eight-day missions as a flight nurse in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
“It’s almost like an ambulance,” he said. “When we fly, the pilot is in charge of the plane, and I’m in charge of everything on the medical side.”
Sweeney first joined the Air Force Reserve in 2007 as a firefighter. He returned from service in 2010, becoming a communications specialist for the PennSTAR Flight Program, Penn’s critical care air and ground medical transportation service, which piqued his interest in flight nursing. From there, he began his journey into medicine, working as an Emergency Room technician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, completing nursing and graduate school, and eventually accepting a role as an Air Force nurse in 2016.
As a flight nurse, Sweeney is responsible for medical evacuation operations, coordinating with aviation and health care facilities to safely transport military members in need of medical attention. Typically, while deployed he will travel to Iraq or Afghanistan and meet critically wounded soldiers in an ambulance right on the runway. He’ll bring them onto the plane and help stabilize their condition until they can be further treated at a United States military facility. From the moment they’re wounded, a soldier can make it back to the U.S. within 96 hours.
“You sign up for missions a few weeks in advance, so you don’t know what the patients are like until you get there,” said Sweeney. “You find out when you arrive and you provide treatment on the fly.”
In addition to treating wounded individuals in active duty, Sweeney has also participated in hurricane response efforts, flying down to Texas in 2020 to help those impacted by major flooding. He has also traveled to Japan to transport parents in the U.S. military and their newborns who have high-risk medical conditions, such as congenital defects, for care.
“It’s a unique situation being able to work at both PAH and the Air Force, but everyone has been extremely supportive,” said Sweeney. “Both roles complement each other well. I get to work with teams who are adaptable and able to overcome any challenge. It’s rewarding to be around such resilient people in both of these roles.”