Connie Kerins, RN called to tell me that there was a medical emergency this morning, Thursday, January 22nd. She was awakened at 5am by a passenger who told her that one of the photojournalists was in ”really severe abdominal pain.” Kerins told me that “he hadn’t felt well yesterday and thought thathe had food poisoning.” The bus driver pulled over to the side of the road. “We called 911,” said Kerins. We were in Arkansas between towns on Highway 40. I told the 911 operator that we were near a church and gave her an address on a nearby mailbox.” Kerins said that the 911 operator knew the church and directed the driver into town to the hospital.

“A hospital called Sparks Health System in Port Smith, Arkansas is one of the best facilities I’ve ever been in,” said Kerins, who practiced ER nursing for 7 years in New York City and Oakland, Calif. “I was extremely impressed. They got him in the door, in a room, an RN in the room, a doctor in the room, a differential diagnosis made and treated him for pain.The timeliness, consideration-- even change of shift was not a major hurdle. Everyone was very kind."

“We were in there at 5:45 in the morning and he was in the OR by 9:30am, everyone treated us great, no one had an attitude. A big shout out to them!” said Kerins.