Roberto Acosta
MLive.com, Walker, Mich.
BANGOR TWP, Mich. — An off-duty Indiana firefighter helped save a woman’s life Sunday afternoon at Bay City State Park.
The incident began around 1 p.m. Sunday, June 21, when first responders were called out for a medical emergency at the location off State Park Drive along the Saginaw Bay.
Prior to their arrival, Bangor Township Fire Chief Rob Glenn said an off-duty Fort Wayne firefighter and a firefighter-in-training out of Howell in Livingston County jumped into action.
“They initiated CPR,” said Glenn, as the woman had experienced a cardiac event.
The Indiana firefighter had been on vacation and was headed back home when he stopped off at the park.
Bangor Township firefighters responded and used an automated external defibrillator on the woman and were able to resuscitate her.
It took a team effort to get the woman off the beach, Glenn said, with a Gator utility vehicle used to get a stretcher to the beach.
The stretcher was placed in the back of a pickup truck from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to get the woman off the beach and into the awaiting ambulance.
She was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
“The system doesn’t always work that well and yesterday it did,” said Glenn of the efforts. “Having some trained firefighters’ hands there made the difference.”
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