By this time next week, Tom Parker expects to be a certified EMT. But his training came in handy earlier this week when he was playing hockey and a referee dropped to the ice.
When the man collapsed at the Boston Sports Performance Center in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Parker skated into action.
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"I got to him. He was lying on his back, just not breathing. He didn't have a pulse. He was turning blue in the face," Parker said. "At first, I didn't know what to do, but when one of my teammates asked if he had a pulse, my training kicked in, so I started giving compressions."
After 10 or 15 compressions, the ref made a gasping breath. At that point, someone brought over a defibrillator, and Parker used it.
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"And at that point, he gave a much more regular breath, so I started compressions again and he started breathing a bit more regularly, and the EMTs showed up," Parker explained.
The ref was taken to a hospital, where he's recovering.
Parker is looking at medical school and says this experience reinforces his ambition.
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"My goal is to work as a doctor, so I've been trying to work as an EMT to get clinical skills to get more experience like that, so this definitely confirms I want to be an EMT, and it also confirms a medical career for me," he said.
Parker's exam at the National EMS Institute in Carver is next week.
