HALES CORNERS, Wisc. — Recently, a fun summer evening at Boerner Botanical Gardens quickly took a terrible turn.
“It was a large crowd, probably more than 1,000 people here, and we had stopped over by the building that was behind me. Somebody ran up and said there was an elderly man who just fell down and didn't look good,” said Shawn Hammernik.
Shawn Hammernik and Nick Grode are two seasonal rangers for Milwaukee County Parks. They say they had to act fast to save the man's life.
Watch: Milwaukee County Parks offer enhanced safety measures, AEDs for patrons
“We ran to the scene as fast as we could, and upon arrival, we assessed him, looked for a pulse, and noticed he had weak breathing. We made the decision to grab the AED unit from our vehicle,” said Grode.
An automated external defibrillator, or AED, can help people suffering from a cardiac event.
When Parks Safety, Security, and Training Manager Todd Pisarski joined the team, he says the department only had 14 AEDs. After seeing Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin's recovery thanks to access to the machine, he pushed for 17 more.
“We have them in the community centers. We have them at pools, golf courses, and beer gardens, and on person with the rangers. Our goal is to look at that and see how we can acquire more, and then have that conversation to see where they should go,” said Pisarski.
Since then, Pisarski says his rangers are constantly training, making sure all Milwaukeeans can enjoy the parks and know that help is not far away.
“When you come to a park, whether it be for a picnic or a concert, you should feel fairly safe, knowing that if something happens, we'll be there to try and handle the situation and have a positive outcome,” said Pisarski.
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