Roaring River Park Ranger Receives
Third Award for Life-Saving
May 26, 2022
Above, Cpl. Jabben (center, with plaque) displays his third award for saving a life at Roaring River State Park.
Ezra DeVore
On November 18, 2021, Missouri State Park Ranger Cpl. Steve Jabben located and saved the life of an unresponsive subject in a vehicle in Roaring River State Park. According to Jabben, the individual had attempted to commit suicide in their vehicle, but was located by Jabben.
“It’s just what we do here,” Jabben says. According to Jabben, life-threatening events occur with far more frequency than many would assume. “State patrol dispatched me to a possible suicidal subject in the park, based on a hotline call.”
Locating the source of the call, state patrol was able to send Jabben in the right direction. “They started pinging the individual’s phone,” Jabben begins, “and it pinged inside the park.” Jabben states that he was unable to locate the individual for some time, but upon being given the individual’s name and vehicle description, the locating device sent an alert from the Mark Twain Forest, off of Sugar Camp Road. “And I went on out with a trooper, Jared Praeter,” Jabben says.
“I’ve got extensive knowledge of the forest, and I just so happened to know what forest road they were talking about.” Jabben states that the alerts then led them just outside of Seligman, where Praeter and Jabben located the individual’s vehicle. The individual was unconscious, and by using a mixture of devices, had attempted suicide. Upon ensuring entry to the vehicle was safe, Praeter made entry through the vehicle’s window. Jabben attempted to revive the unresponsive subject.
“The subject was unconscious, and I could tell they had taken a large amount of opioids. I ran and got my Narcan that we carry, and administered it. That got the subject alert.”
An officer accompanied the subject while Jabben and Praeter departed to lead emergency services to their location, due to the location’s high level of remoteness. The subject was then transported by paramedics to a hospital in Northwest Arkansas.
“From the time of the call to locating the individual,” says Jabben, “it took about thirty minutes. It was a good team effort. All in a day’s work. I’ve got several awards for this, we had another event last Thursday.” This event was not a suicidal event, as medical emergencies in the park extend beyond mental health-related situations, says Jabben.
“I’ve had to use my AED (automated external defibrillator) to help lot of elderly visitors, I don’t know how many times. They forget to eat, they get in the heat - we have a lot of medical situations.”
However, those who visit state or national parks with these intentions is more frequent than one may think, says Jabben. “It’s something we discuss in training.” Jabben suspects the cause may be that the parks provide a beautiful and peaceful environment.
For his continued efforts, Jabben received his third “Employee of the Month” for life-saving, and Director Buntin and the Missouri State Parks leadership team awarded Cpl. Jabben a Governor’s Certificate of Recognition as well.
According to Mike Phillips, Director of the Barry County E-9-1-1 reported that the county receives 12-15 mental health calls a month.
On November 18, 2021, Missouri State Park Ranger Cpl. Steve Jabben located and saved the life of an unresponsive subject in a vehicle in Roaring River State Park. According to Jabben, the individual had attempted to commit suicide in their vehicle, but was located by Jabben.
“It’s just what we do here,” Jabben says. According to Jabben, life-threatening events occur with far more frequency than many would assume. “State patrol dispatched me to a possible suicidal subject in the park, based on a hotline call.”
Locating the source of the call, state patrol was able to send Jabben in the right direction. “They started pinging the individual’s phone,” Jabben begins, “and it pinged inside the park.” Jabben states that he was unable to locate the individual for some time, but upon being given the individual’s name and vehicle description, the locating device sent an alert from the Mark Twain Forest, off of Sugar Camp Road. “And I went on out with a trooper, Jared Praeter,” Jabben says.
“I’ve got extensive knowledge of the forest, and I just so happened to know what forest road they were talking about.” Jabben states that the alerts then led them just outside of Seligman, where Praeter and Jabben located the individual’s vehicle. The individual was unconscious, and by using a mixture of devices, had attempted suicide. Upon ensuring entry to the vehicle was safe, Praeter made entry through the vehicle’s window. Jabben attempted to revive the unresponsive subject.
“The subject was unconscious, and I could tell they had taken a large amount of opioids. I ran and got my Narcan that we carry, and administered it. That got the subject alert.”
An officer accompanied the subject while Jabben and Praeter departed to lead emergency services to their location, due to the location’s high level of remoteness. The subject was then transported by paramedics to a hospital in Northwest Arkansas.
“From the time of the call to locating the individual,” says Jabben, “it took about thirty minutes. It was a good team effort. All in a day’s work. I’ve got several awards for this, we had another event last Thursday.” This event was not a suicidal event, as medical emergencies in the park extend beyond mental health-related situations, says Jabben.
“I’ve had to use my AED (automated external defibrillator) to help lot of elderly visitors, I don’t know how many times. They forget to eat, they get in the heat - we have a lot of medical situations.”
However, those who visit state or national parks with these intentions is more frequent than one may think, says Jabben. “It’s something we discuss in training.” Jabben suspects the cause may be that the parks provide a beautiful and peaceful environment.
For his continued efforts, Jabben received his third “Employee of the Month” for life-saving, and Director Buntin and the Missouri State Parks leadership team awarded Cpl. Jabben a Governor’s Certificate of Recognition as well.
According to Mike Phillips, Director of the Barry County E-9-1-1 reported that the county receives 12-15 mental health calls a month.
