Medical emergency at ATL Concourse A

TW: medical emergency

I was connecting through Atlanta tonight (Sat 2/1) and walking to my gate around 9 PM when I saw a man collapse at A30. The gate area was fairly empty so I immediately dropped my bags and ran over, anticipating that at least a few folks would be needed to help until EMS arrived.

I was the first person to reach him and once I could see he was breathing/didn’t seem to need CPR, I (and two family members traveling with me) started to scream for help, for a doctor or nurse, for someone to call 911, etc. One of the first people to respond and jump into action was an incredible nurse who kept the patient calm and comfortable while asking him for more information and assessing the situation. If she sees this, THANK YOU! I’ll think of you next time I “look for the helpers”.

That being said — I was shocked and frankly kind of disturbed by the response (or lack thereof) from airport & airline employees. When we began screaming, I expected help would come fairly quickly, that the right people just needed to be made aware that there was an emergency. I was surprised that no one from Delta (or other ATL employees) took charge to coordinate/communicate/otherwise direct people. In fact, one airport employee (I’m not certain of her role but she wasn’t affiliated with Delta) who was nearest to the man when he collapsed responded by saying “this is the second time he’s done this!” I’m sorry but wtf?! Why didn’t you call for help yet?? She seemed to insinuate that this was caused by the man drinking which frankly, is a moot point when someone is clearly having a medical emergency.

Eventually a couple of Delta gate agents came over, one of whom called 911 (in addition to one of my family members). I understand my perception is likely colored by an emotionally-charged situation, however, the response time of staff and their seeming inexperience in dealing with a medical emergency really struck me. The response time of EMS was also really worrisome — given that ATL is the busiest airport in the world, I would assume they have paramedics on-site that could respond in <10 mins, but perhaps this was misinformed.

Once we confirmed EMS was on their way and in contact with the Delta gate agent, we left to make our flight which was boarding, so I don’t have any other information on the outcome — but of course hope the man is okay and got the care he needed tonight. Plan on submitting this feedback to Delta but also wanted to share here in case anyone can offer insight from similar experiences or was present tonight and has additional information or perspective on what transpired. I also plan to take a refresher first aid/CPR course and would encourage others to do the same. Thanks & take care of yourselves! 🫶🏻