{"id":9252,"date":"2024-03-11T16:21:44","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T16:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=9252"},"modified":"2024-03-12T16:23:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:23:31","slug":"maryland-guard-airman-uses-military-training-to-save-a-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2024\/03\/11\/maryland-guard-airman-uses-military-training-to-save-a-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Guard Airman Uses Military Training to Save a Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Staff Sgt. Julian Kemper<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

175th WG – Maryland Air National Guard<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

U.S. Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Brooke Parks, 175th Force Support Squadron recruiter, poses for a photo in front of the 175th Wing Headquarters building at Martin State Air National Guard Base, Maryland, Feb. 4, 2024.<\/p><\/div>\n

MIDDLE RIVER, Md. – The day before Thanksgiving, most people are thinking about a short list of things to do – ensuring the turkey is thawed, cleaning the house for a family visit, or preparing for a long trip to see relatives. For Maryland Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Brooke Parks, a recruiter assigned to the 175th Force Support Squadron, her focus was on saving a life.<\/p>\n

While driving down Pulaski Highway in Baltimore, Parks noticed a man in the median, seemingly passed out. Without even thinking, she pulled her car over to check the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blew my mind that nobody was stopping,\u201d Parks said.<\/p>\n

After calling 911, another concerned drive joined her. She noticed what seemed to be drug paraphernalia surrounding the man and concluded he had overdosed. Parks was prepared, as she carried Narcan and a first aid kit in her car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI administered the first dose, no response, no color coming back, no breathing, nothing,\u201d said Parks.<\/p>\n

While the other motorist began to panic, Parks remained calm and focused. After administering a second dose and thinking about the next steps, her training proved its usefulness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was starting to think I would have to do CPR,\u201d said Parks. \u201cAnd then I thought back to [Tactical Combat Casualty Care] training and said, \u2018Let me try the sternum rub they talked about.\u2019 Once I did it, he actually jumped up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Emergency Medical Services and the fire department arrived, Parks informed them of the situation and let them take over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the daughter of a nurse, this was far from her first time in a life-or-death roadside situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom always stopped at car accidents,\u201d Parks recalled. \u201cOne time, she actually saved someone\u2019s life at a car accident. They were having a femoral bleed and she stopped the bleeding until EMS arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parks credits both her mother and her role as a service member with giving her a sense of duty to help others whenever she can.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrooke is an amazing Airman who serves with professionalism and pride in everything she does. As a recruiter she takes special care of all the people she encounters on a daily basis,\u201d said Maryland Air National Guard Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Singleton, 175th Recruiting and Retention senior enlisted leader. \u201cIt is no surprise to me that when she was called to do so, she stepped up to help a fellow Marylander in need. I couldn\u2019t be more proud of her actions and the person she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wing leadership also echoed those sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actions taken by SSgt. Parks that day are a testament to the person she is and is the ultimate example of being a Citizen-Airmen,\u201d said Maryland Air National Guard Col. Richard Hunt, 175th Wing commander. \u201cNot only was she willing to step up, intervene, and take action to help save a life when she was needed by our community but she was prepared. She is the perfect example of being always ready, always there, and I could not be more proud of her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Staff Sgt. Julian Kemper\u00a0 175th WG – Maryland Air National Guard MIDDLE RIVER, Md. – The day before Thanksgiving, most people are thinking about a short list of things to do – ensuring the turkey is thawed, cleaning the house for a family visit, or preparing for a long trip to see relatives. For  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":9253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[75,205],"class_list":["post-9252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-maryland-air-national-guard","tag-maryland-national-guard"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9252"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9256,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252\/revisions\/9256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}