Photo By Chief Petty Officer Carla Burdt | Navy Recruiting District San Diego Recruiters Navy Counselor 2nd Class Nicholas Clark...... read more read more
‘Be prepared’ is the motto of the Boy Scouts, but Sailors also need to be ready for any situation whether it be fighting a fire at sea or saving a life at a mall.
Navy Recruiting District (NRD) San Diego Navy Recruiters’ Damage Controlman 1st Class Zachary Huckaby and Navy Counselor 2nd Class Nicholas Clark jumped into action when they observed a woman collapsing at the Westfield Plaza Bonita Mall in Chula Vista, Calif., Nov. 6, 2019.
“I have taken a lot of CPR and first responder courses, so I didn’t have to think about what needed to be done,” said Huckaby. “Clark and I took control of the scene so that we could help this woman and her family.”
Huckaby saw that the woman wasn’t breathing and observed other signs of a medical emergency and began administering basic CPR. He directed a man nearby to get an automated external defibrillator from the nearby food court.
While Huckaby provided medical assistance, Clark took control of the scene, directing an onlooker to call 911 and for the rest of the people to stay clear. Clark also held the crying baby and helped calm the woman’s husband.
“(The woman) collapsed while holding a young boy, and the little boy was screaming,” said Clark. “Her husband was panicking and trying to shake her.”
“I just knew that if it were one of my family members, I would want someone like us there,” said Clark. “When we heard the woman fall and then heard the kid screaming, it broke my heart. I thought of my own son. I didn’t want her to die, and for this to be the last memory he has of his grandmother.”
Within a few minutes of Huckaby administering CPR, the woman began to open her eyes and mumble. Moments later, paramedics arrived on the scene. Huckaby and Clark remained on the scene until the woman was transported to the ambulance.
Huckaby credits the quick response to the extensive training that he has received in the Navy.
“I feel like anyone should have done what we did,” said Huckaby. “As a damage controlman, I never freak out under pressure. I don’t think what I did was heroic, but I feel like I did the right thing. Not responding wasn’t an option; it was an instinct to jump in and help.”
According to Clark, they did what anyone would do in this situation. “The teamwork was perfect. We were just two people who knew what we were doing and knew, through all of our Navy training, what to do without thinking about it.”
Huckaby and Clark were at the mall to view a prescreening of the movie ‘Midway,’ and were handing out business cards, talking to people about careers in the Navy and setting up appointments before they responded to the crisis.
Huckaby feels that he and Clark make a great team and their commanding officer feels the same.
NRD San Diego Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Jason Eckhardt, said that he is proud of Huckaby and Clark and their incredible actions when facing an emergency.
“NRD San Diego has some of the best and brightest Recruiters who are committed to doing the right thing both on- and off-duty,” said Eckhart. “They could have waited for someone else to respond, but through their training and dedication to Navy core values every day, these two recruiters helped a family in need without thinking twice.”
Established January 1975, NRD San Diego encompasses 210,000 square miles covering Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California. Headquartered at Naval Base Point Loma, NRD San Diego has more than 50 recruiting stations in the tri-state region and employs more than 300 recruiters, support personnel, and civilians.
| Date Taken: | 11.06.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2019 14:29 |
| Story ID: | 352585 |
| Location: | CHULA VISTA, CA, US |
| Hometown: | MINCO, OK, US |
| Hometown: | OAK HARBOR, WA, US |
| Hometown: | SAYVILLE, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 764 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NRD San Diego Recruiters Respond to Medical Emergency, by CPO Carla Burdt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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