A group of Swedish flight attendants from Scandinavian Airlines SAS who have been laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic, are training as assistant nurses to help relieve the load on the overburdened medical departments.
Airline cabin crew are considered good candidates to work in hospitals because they are required to complete medical training to serve aboard flights in case of an emergency. They are also trained in how to handle difficult situations, that can help lessen stressful workload in places like hospitals.
Singapore Airline which suspended 96% of their flights until May 2020 asked their flight attendants to assist in hospitals during this period as well. Some 300 of Singapore Airline cabin crew applied to become “Care Ambassadors” that will assist patients in various ways such as food catering, shower, general admin between patients to doctor when needed.
The first group of 30 cabin crew have completed extra medical training and are ready to start working 5 days a week at Khoo Teck Puat hospital next week.
