Print 
Share 
Text 
To reset, hold the Ctrl key, then press 0.
Meet the dream team! Neonatal intensive care nurses Lindsey Kilgore (left) of Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Eunice Publow (center) of The Ottawa Hospital helped Austrian medical resident Lena (right) deliver a baby girl mid-flight.
This wasn’t how Eunice Publow and Lindsey Kilgore expected to end their winter vacation.
The long-time friends had just spent three action-packed weeks in Thailand and Indonesia, exploring waterfalls, attending beach parties and learning how to cook local cuisine. Now, they were on a flight to Dubai, the first leg of their journey home, and wanted nothing more than to get some sleep.
But another adventure would soon come calling.
In the middle of a seven-hour flight, tens of thousands of feet above the Arabian Sea, a fellow passenger went into labour.
Fortunately, Eunice and Lindsey are registered nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Eunice here at The Ottawa Hospital and Lindsey with Kingston Health Sciences Centre.
The dream team unites
“About five hours into the flight, there was an announcement asking for medical professionals to make themselves known,” recalls Eunice. “I had overheard one of the flight crew members say ‘baby,’ so my ears immediately perked up. I went and got Lindsey, who was napping at the time, and we presented ourselves to the crew.”
“There was a resident physician from Austria named Lena who was training in obstetrics, and she came forward, too,” recalls Lindsey. “The three of us formed a little team to work together.”
“The flight crew had gotten the mother situated in front of an emergency exit, behind a curtain, and she was progressing very, very quickly,” says Eunice. “Lena went in with a flight attendant and helped the mother give birth.”
A little improvisation
“When the baby was born, we didn’t hear any crying,” recalls Lindsey. “We attend a lot of deliveries, but normally we have all our equipment and our people, so we really had to improvise. The baby did need a bit of oxygen, but fortunately, there’s no shortage of oxygen masks on a plane! Eventually, she started to cry.”
“We had to keep her warm, so the crew grabbed some warm blankets,” says Eunice. “And when she was an hour old, we used a glucometer to test her blood sugar, which was slightly on the low side, so Lindsey helped the mother breastfeed. After that point, things were pretty stabilized with the baby. The captain came out of the cockpit and asked Lindsey and I if we felt the need to divert the plane, but we determined we could make it the rest of the way.”
“For me, this experience really re-iterated the role of a nurse — it highlighted that this is more than just a job,” says Lindsey. “This is something that spills over into everyday life and not something you can get away from. Being willing to help is definitely a part of who you are. And even though it was a stressful situation, it really showed how a group of strangers can really come together to work as a team and create a good outcome for someone in need.”
Support patient care and research at
The Ottawa Hospital
You might also like…
Black History Month: A time to honour, celebrate and listen
Four members of The Ottawa Hospital’s Black community reflect on what this important month means to them.
Reimagining hospital food: How The Ottawa Hospital is transforming the patient mealtime experience
In 2024, we launched the trial phase of our Patient Food Transformation Project. The goal was to see if it is possible to improve the overall nutrition and quality of food we serve to our patients, while increasing bedside hospitality, enhancing the overall sustainability of our food services, and not increasing operational costs. Our trial wrapped in 2025 with very promising results.
Dr. John Bell and Stephen Beckta inducted into the Order of Canada
The Ottawa Hospital is proud to share that on December 31, 2025, two members of our team were inducted into the Order of Canada. Congratulations Dr. John Bell and Stephen Beckta.
Everyone at our hospital plays a role in research. Here’s how
It’s Research Week at The Ottawa Hospital. Check out this video to hear from some of the incredible people fuelling our discoveries that are having an impact around the world.
How the Robin Easey Centre supports recovery after a brain injury
“When our clients have a purpose — even something as simple as a meaningful activity — it gives them new hope in life.” In this short Q&A, discover how the team at the Robin Easey Centre helps clients rebuild their daily routines and regain their independence after an acquired brain injury.
Bringing communities together, one stitch at a time
In celebration of June being both National Indigenous History Month and Pride Month, The Ottawa Hospital hosted a beading workshop for Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ staff and their allies.