Joyce Park, an ICU nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, was on her way home from a family dinner at a restaurant in Closter when a vehicle two cars ahead of hers began zigzagging across the road.
Park watched as the car swerved off the right side of the road, struck a utility pole, and told her husband to stop their car so she could rush to the wrecked vehicle. “I just knew something was wrong, so I ran over there,” she says.
Park Was At the Right Place at the Right Time
Park found the driver, an 80-year-old man, unconscious. Closter police said he suffered a cardiac event and was going into a seizure.
Park’s husband helped get the victim out of the car and onto the ground, and she found the man had no pulse, as the victim’s wife was frantically yelling for help.
The 35-year-old nurse’s training kicked in. She methodically began performing CPR on the victim. Her chest compressions were successful, and she resuscitated him after about 30 seconds.
“Then he came back to life,” she says. “He woke up screaming, ‘I’m OK, I’m OK. ’” Park continued to check his vital signs as the police arrived.
Daily Nurse is proud to honor Park as the Nurse of the Week for her ability to act quickly, relying on her nurse’s training to perform this life-saving procedure and help save this man’s life.
While waiting for the paramedics, Park learned the man had just celebrated his 80th birthday at a restaurant — not far from where she and her family had dined that evening. The man was conscious, alert, and well. He was taken by ambulance to nearby Englewood Hospital.
Park says she has resuscitated patients multiple times during her seven years as a nurse but never in an everyday situation like the one she encountered this evening.
“The setting was different, but this is what we do, saving people’s lives at the hospital,” Park says.
Mark Sparta, president of Hackensack University Medical Center, says he wasn’t surprised Park jumped into action at the scene.
“That life-saving procedure might not have occurred if Joyce had not been in the right place at the right time,” Sparta says. “We are grateful for all Joyce does for our community — inside and outside our hospital walls.”
Nominate a Nurse of the Week! Every Wednesday, DailyNurse.com features a nurse making a difference in the lives of their patients, students, and colleagues. We encourage you to nominate a nurse who has impacted your life as the next Nurse of the Week, and we’ll feature them online and in our weekly newsletter.
