May 9, 2023 • 12 mins
As a thrill seeker and born caretaker, Aysia Bly found her dream job as a pediatric flight nurse--where she performs her duties while soaring above Philly in a helicopter. But the job is inherently dangerous, and as a mom to a young son, Aysia must contend with that risk everyday. You can learn more about her at her Website.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oddly enough, and this is gonna sound so funny, I
am a baseball field person, like I look for a
baseball field every time we take off.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Oh look there's a baseball field.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Maybe it's the softball player in me, but I love
to see them from up high.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
That's Asia B. She's thirty years old, lives in Maryland,
and technically speaking, she's a critical care transport nurse at
a large pediatric hospital in Philadelphia. But Asia's version of
critical care transport nursing is quite unique because she's what's
referred to in her line of work as a flight nurse.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So, a flight nurse is someone who essentially goes and
picks up patients in aircraft that can either be a helicopter,
it could be a fixed wing, or any of those
kind of vehicles that fly.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
In honor of International Nurses Day, I spoke with Asia
about her job as a flight nurse, why she fell
in love with such a risky career, and how she
balances the demands of such an intense job with motherhood
and everything else she's got going on in life. And
if you've never heard of flight nursing, you're not alone.
(01:13):
Because prior to taking this job. Neither had Asia, but
as an experienced er nurse and a self described thrill seeker,
Asia knew the moment she heard that you could take
care of patients while soaring through the air that she'd
found the job for her. There was only one little issue.
She'd never been in a helicopter before. Tell me about
(01:40):
that first flight you took. Were you nervous?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So we got a page and they send you an
alert saying this is dispatch, this is the patient and.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
They're like, yeah, you guys are going to go up
for a flight today. And I was like what.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
They're like, yeah, you're going to go up in the
helicopter today.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
And then, as she explained it, things started getting really
She and her team take the elevator to the top
floor of the hospital and then walk out to the helipad.
It's cold and it's windy, and her adrenaline is pumping.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And then the nurse who had came with that crew
is like, oh, is this your first flight.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'm like, yup.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
She was like oh okay, Like here's the you know, I'm
gonna show you the parts of the helicopter. Stay in
the front, don't walk towards the back.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's kind of like when you're having a baby. They're
telling you all.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
These things and you're like, I can't focus, like and
then I must have got too far away.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
She was like, stay close, member. I was like, oh god,
I forgot already.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Fortunately for Asia, the first flight was to bring her
out to a patient that they were picking up for transport,
so she could focus on the flight itself, get over
those first flight jitters, which for her immediately faded the
minute the helicopter took off.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I thought it was gonna be a lot more bumpy,
but it was very smooth. It was. It was amazing.
It was just amazing being like that high up.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
As you can imagine. Being a nurse and a helicopter
is a heck of a lot different from nursing in
a hospital. For one thing, it's really tightened here.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So a helicopter is definitely a confined space.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It is so small, even though I'm only five feet,
can't even like stand up inside of it, that's how
small it is.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And unlike a hospital that has a well stocked supply
room and all the machines and monitors and nurse could
need the limited space of a helicopter means Asia and
her team need to pack wisely and bring only the essentials.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Our resources are pretty much what you bring in your pocket.
So we wear something called a flight suit and it
has about like twelve bockets on it and you can
stick things in it.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I have like flushes.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I am like my alcohol swaps because there's not a
lot of moving, Like you can't go reaching in a
bunch of bags and doing a bunch of moving around.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Not to mention, they're up there flying through the air.
It's just her a partner and the pilot doesn't know
how to do something. She can't page someone on another
floor to come help. So this means that a flight
nurse like Asia has to be on top of their game.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
One of the things that I always tell new nurses
in the moment, it'll come to you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And that trust Asia has in her skills, that confidence
in herself to rise to the moment stems from her
training as an athlete.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I played softball in high school.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I used to get on the dirt and I used
to be like, I hope a ball doesn't come to
me right, because you don't want to make a mistake.
You don't want an error. You're worried about these things.
I'm like, I hope a ball doesn't come to me.
And my softball coach, she said, if you're on this
field and you hope the ball doesn't come to you,
then we have an issue.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And it's kind of the same thing in nursing.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
When you first start out and you're a new nurse,
you're like, I hope I don't get a hard patient.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I hope I don't get an IVY today.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
You know, it's one of those things where that that
is a notice that you need to step your skills up,
because when you go to work, you should be saying,
no matter what comes in that door today, I know
that I'm going to be able to handle.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It, especially as a flight nurse.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
No matter what page we get that day, I know
that when I get up in that helicopter, I'm going
to be able to do this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
If you can hear a sense of conviction in Asia's
voice when she talks about nursing, there's a reason for
that because nursing has always been Asia's goal.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, this is one hundred percent plan A for me.
I always wanted to be a nurse. I went to
a high school that was called a vocational high school,
so they let you study some type of vocation, and
my vocation was practical nursing, which you got to graduate
with your LPN.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
From high school. So I did that program and I
was like, yeah, this is it, and then.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
From there I went straight to college and got my
four year.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Degree right away and it the rest's history.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I one hundred percent once I started in it, just
even that first day, I was like, this is what
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
This is definitely my calling.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So no, this isn't one of those stories about a
wayward soul trying out a bunch of different jobs before
finding the one that suited them. This is the story
of a woman who knew deep down exactly what she
wanted to do in this life and then committed herself
holy to turning that dream into a reality. So when
(06:20):
Asia shows up to work, she's not hoping to pass
the time playing on her phone. She's there because she
has a job to do, her dream job.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
We have this thing in nursing, which is kind of
I think all nursing.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It's called a.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Superstition where you don't say it's quiet in here or
on board, because when you say those things, things commit
and I'm the one that's gonna walk in like, guys,
it's so quiet in here, because I'm like, we're doing this,
We're gonna turn this up in here today.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And people are like, Asia, why did you say that?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I'm like, because we're just sitting here bored, like we
need things to do. And so I am one hundred
percent the person.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Like I hope we get a flight today.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
When we come back from the break. Asia's pager goes off.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
A strong work ethic, takes pride in a job well done.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
This is the kind of person you need. Express Employment
Professionals can help because in good times or bad, we
understand how critical it is to manage your business for
today with the right workforce.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We offer hiring solutions to fit changing demands.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Express knows Jobs.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Get to know Express go to expresspros dot com to
find a location near you.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
We're back with Asia B, who shows up at her
dream job as a critical care transport nurse, not knowing
exactly what that day is going to look like. One
minute she might be working in the hospital and the
next she's speeding down I ninety five in the back
of an ambul or putting a stint in a patient
while soaring over Washington, d C. And a medical helicopter.
(08:06):
And for Asia, that uncertainty, that big question mark at
the beginning of each day is one of the best
parts of the job. But it's a job not without risks.
Do you have a son, right?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I do. He's a five year old and my son's
name is Tate.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Does your son worry about you going up in the helicopter?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He's My son is five, so I don't know if
he actually has grasped the idea that I am like
that it's so dangerous in his mind. You know, when
you're that young, Oh the beauty of innocence. You just
don't understand. This is dangerous. Mommy's job is dangerous.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Medical flights often occur in poor conditions and challenging locations,
and while the industry has taken measures to increase the
safety of their work, risks still abound. In fact, just
days before I interviewed Asia, a medical helicopter went down
in Nevada, killing everyone aboard. And then when I was
(09:10):
editing this piece, a few weeks later, another medical helicopter
went down in Alabama. Asia is not ambivalent to the
risk of her job. She knows that every time you
go up there is that chance. But she also knows
that it's part of the job, a job that she
(09:32):
feels destined to do.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I think that one of the things for nurses, most nurses,
nurses who care, are they're just so like selfless, right
because the reality is we're here to help people, and
so in our mind that's always our like, that's always
at the forefront, So we don't really you can't really
think of anything else in those moments.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
As a mom herself, Asia knows the stakes. She knows
that oftentimes she's seeing families in their absolute worst moments,
seeing mothers and fathers in the midst of a living nightmare.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
The thing about and they're saying that kind of fascinates me,
I think is that you are literally taking care.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Of someone at their most vulnerable time.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
You have the power to kind of be the difference
between a good experience how they deal with this like
most stressful time in their life, or adding more stress
and making it terrible for them, right, and especially I
think being a pediatric nurse, this is your most prized possession,
right and now you are literally as a mom, feeling
(10:34):
so helpless in this situation and you have no idea
what to do, and I hear I come, and I'm like,
I know more than you about your kid. Right, No
one likes to hear that, But I think in those
moments like empowering parents and being able to be there
for them in their toughest time is probably like the best.
If my patient leaves and doesn't feel like I've helped
them or held their hand through this, what was the point?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Then there's just really no point.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
So here's the thing. Well, this episode is about Asia,
It's also about nurses everywhere. It's about those millions of
men and women who put on their nurses scrupts each
day and do their jobs, no matter how difficult or
exhausting or downright dangerous it might be. At the height
of the pandemic, entire cities came to a standstill as
(11:28):
people banked pots and pans and screamed in praise of
nurses and doctors and other frontline workers. Maybe you were
one of those people who, at seven o'clock every night
shouted out your window or stomped up and down on
your fire escape in praise of our frontline workers, in
praise of our heroes. And as things returned to a
(11:51):
sense of normalcy. I'm wondering if we can't find some
way to continue thinking those people, people like Asia, who
we turned to in our times of need. If you'd
like to thank Asia, you can check her out on
(12:12):
our website Motheringdemama dot com. For on the job, I'm
Avery Thompson.
Oddly enough, and this is gonna sound so funny, I
am a baseball field person, like I look for a
baseball field every time we take off.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Oh look there's a baseball field.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Maybe it's the softball player in me, but I love
to see them from up high.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
That's Asia B. She's thirty years old, lives in Maryland,
and technically speaking, she's a critical care transport nurse at
a large pediatric hospital in Philadelphia. But Asia's version of
critical care transport nursing is quite unique because she's what's
referred to in her line of work as a flight nurse.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So, a flight nurse is someone who essentially goes and
picks up patients in aircraft that can either be a helicopter,
it could be a fixed wing, or any of those
kind of vehicles that fly.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
In honor of International Nurses Day, I spoke with Asia
about her job as a flight nurse, why she fell
in love with such a risky career, and how she
balances the demands of such an intense job with motherhood
and everything else she's got going on in life. And
if you've never heard of flight nursing, you're not alone.
(01:13):
Because prior to taking this job. Neither had Asia, but
as an experienced er nurse and a self described thrill seeker,
Asia knew the moment she heard that you could take
care of patients while soaring through the air that she'd
found the job for her. There was only one little issue.
She'd never been in a helicopter before. Tell me about
(01:40):
that first flight you took. Were you nervous?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So we got a page and they send you an
alert saying this is dispatch, this is the patient and.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
They're like, yeah, you guys are going to go up
for a flight today. And I was like what.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
They're like, yeah, you're going to go up in the
helicopter today.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
And then, as she explained it, things started getting really
She and her team take the elevator to the top
floor of the hospital and then walk out to the helipad.
It's cold and it's windy, and her adrenaline is pumping.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And then the nurse who had came with that crew
is like, oh, is this your first flight.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'm like, yup.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
She was like oh okay, Like here's the you know, I'm
gonna show you the parts of the helicopter. Stay in
the front, don't walk towards the back.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's kind of like when you're having a baby. They're
telling you all.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
These things and you're like, I can't focus, like and
then I must have got too far away.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
She was like, stay close, member. I was like, oh god,
I forgot already.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Fortunately for Asia, the first flight was to bring her
out to a patient that they were picking up for transport,
so she could focus on the flight itself, get over
those first flight jitters, which for her immediately faded the
minute the helicopter took off.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I thought it was gonna be a lot more bumpy,
but it was very smooth. It was. It was amazing.
It was just amazing being like that high up.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
As you can imagine. Being a nurse and a helicopter
is a heck of a lot different from nursing in
a hospital. For one thing, it's really tightened here.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So a helicopter is definitely a confined space.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It is so small, even though I'm only five feet,
can't even like stand up inside of it, that's how
small it is.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And unlike a hospital that has a well stocked supply
room and all the machines and monitors and nurse could
need the limited space of a helicopter means Asia and
her team need to pack wisely and bring only the essentials.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Our resources are pretty much what you bring in your pocket.
So we wear something called a flight suit and it
has about like twelve bockets on it and you can
stick things in it.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I have like flushes.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I am like my alcohol swaps because there's not a
lot of moving, Like you can't go reaching in a
bunch of bags and doing a bunch of moving around.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Not to mention, they're up there flying through the air.
It's just her a partner and the pilot doesn't know
how to do something. She can't page someone on another
floor to come help. So this means that a flight
nurse like Asia has to be on top of their game.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
One of the things that I always tell new nurses
in the moment, it'll come to you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And that trust Asia has in her skills, that confidence
in herself to rise to the moment stems from her
training as an athlete.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I played softball in high school.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I used to get on the dirt and I used
to be like, I hope a ball doesn't come to
me right, because you don't want to make a mistake.
You don't want an error. You're worried about these things.
I'm like, I hope a ball doesn't come to me.
And my softball coach, she said, if you're on this
field and you hope the ball doesn't come to you,
then we have an issue.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And it's kind of the same thing in nursing.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
When you first start out and you're a new nurse,
you're like, I hope I don't get a hard patient.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I hope I don't get an IVY today.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
You know, it's one of those things where that that
is a notice that you need to step your skills up,
because when you go to work, you should be saying,
no matter what comes in that door today, I know
that I'm going to be able to handle.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It, especially as a flight nurse.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
No matter what page we get that day, I know
that when I get up in that helicopter, I'm going
to be able to do this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
If you can hear a sense of conviction in Asia's
voice when she talks about nursing, there's a reason for
that because nursing has always been Asia's goal.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, this is one hundred percent plan A for me.
I always wanted to be a nurse. I went to
a high school that was called a vocational high school,
so they let you study some type of vocation, and
my vocation was practical nursing, which you got to graduate
with your LPN.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
From high school. So I did that program and I
was like, yeah, this is it, and then.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
From there I went straight to college and got my
four year.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Degree right away and it the rest's history.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I one hundred percent once I started in it, just
even that first day, I was like, this is what
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
This is definitely my calling.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So no, this isn't one of those stories about a
wayward soul trying out a bunch of different jobs before
finding the one that suited them. This is the story
of a woman who knew deep down exactly what she
wanted to do in this life and then committed herself
holy to turning that dream into a reality. So when
(06:20):
Asia shows up to work, she's not hoping to pass
the time playing on her phone. She's there because she
has a job to do, her dream job.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
We have this thing in nursing, which is kind of
I think all nursing.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It's called a.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Superstition where you don't say it's quiet in here or
on board, because when you say those things, things commit
and I'm the one that's gonna walk in like, guys,
it's so quiet in here, because I'm like, we're doing this,
We're gonna turn this up in here today.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And people are like, Asia, why did you say that?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I'm like, because we're just sitting here bored, like we
need things to do. And so I am one hundred
percent the person.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Like I hope we get a flight today.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
When we come back from the break. Asia's pager goes off.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
A strong work ethic, takes pride in a job well done.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
This is the kind of person you need. Express Employment
Professionals can help because in good times or bad, we
understand how critical it is to manage your business for
today with the right workforce.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We offer hiring solutions to fit changing demands.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Express knows Jobs.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Get to know Express go to expresspros dot com to
find a location near you.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
We're back with Asia B, who shows up at her
dream job as a critical care transport nurse, not knowing
exactly what that day is going to look like. One
minute she might be working in the hospital and the
next she's speeding down I ninety five in the back
of an ambul or putting a stint in a patient
while soaring over Washington, d C. And a medical helicopter.
(08:06):
And for Asia, that uncertainty, that big question mark at
the beginning of each day is one of the best
parts of the job. But it's a job not without risks.
Do you have a son, right?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I do. He's a five year old and my son's
name is Tate.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Does your son worry about you going up in the helicopter?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He's My son is five, so I don't know if
he actually has grasped the idea that I am like
that it's so dangerous in his mind. You know, when
you're that young, Oh the beauty of innocence. You just
don't understand. This is dangerous. Mommy's job is dangerous.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Medical flights often occur in poor conditions and challenging locations,
and while the industry has taken measures to increase the
safety of their work, risks still abound. In fact, just
days before I interviewed Asia, a medical helicopter went down
in Nevada, killing everyone aboard. And then when I was
(09:10):
editing this piece, a few weeks later, another medical helicopter
went down in Alabama. Asia is not ambivalent to the
risk of her job. She knows that every time you
go up there is that chance. But she also knows
that it's part of the job, a job that she
(09:32):
feels destined to do.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I think that one of the things for nurses, most nurses,
nurses who care, are they're just so like selfless, right
because the reality is we're here to help people, and
so in our mind that's always our like, that's always
at the forefront, So we don't really you can't really
think of anything else in those moments.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
As a mom herself, Asia knows the stakes. She knows
that oftentimes she's seeing families in their absolute worst moments,
seeing mothers and fathers in the midst of a living nightmare.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
The thing about and they're saying that kind of fascinates me,
I think is that you are literally taking care.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Of someone at their most vulnerable time.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
You have the power to kind of be the difference
between a good experience how they deal with this like
most stressful time in their life, or adding more stress
and making it terrible for them, right, and especially I
think being a pediatric nurse, this is your most prized possession,
right and now you are literally as a mom, feeling
(10:34):
so helpless in this situation and you have no idea
what to do, and I hear I come, and I'm like,
I know more than you about your kid. Right, No
one likes to hear that, But I think in those
moments like empowering parents and being able to be there
for them in their toughest time is probably like the best.
If my patient leaves and doesn't feel like I've helped
them or held their hand through this, what was the point?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Then there's just really no point.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
So here's the thing. Well, this episode is about Asia,
It's also about nurses everywhere. It's about those millions of
men and women who put on their nurses scrupts each
day and do their jobs, no matter how difficult or
exhausting or downright dangerous it might be. At the height
of the pandemic, entire cities came to a standstill as
(11:28):
people banked pots and pans and screamed in praise of
nurses and doctors and other frontline workers. Maybe you were
one of those people who, at seven o'clock every night
shouted out your window or stomped up and down on
your fire escape in praise of our frontline workers, in
praise of our heroes. And as things returned to a
(11:51):
sense of normalcy. I'm wondering if we can't find some
way to continue thinking those people, people like Asia, who
we turned to in our times of need. If you'd
like to thank Asia, you can check her out on
(12:12):
our website Motheringdemama dot com. For on the job, I'm
Avery Thompson.
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