By David Fleet
Editor
Groveland Twp.- Seven township medical responders will be honored on Monday night for their life saving efforts.
At 5:25 p.m., March 26, township medical personel were dispatched to Thayer Road for report of a 30-year-old male unconscious, suspected overdose.
The responders were advised the patient was not breathing by the caller.
“Upon arrival cardiopulmonary resuscitation was being performed by a family member,” said Lt. Brendan Fortinberry, paramedic. “The patient was unresponsive and we administered Narcan. This was a heroin overdose, unfortunately even in a rural community it’s becoming more common.”

A faint carotid pulses palpated by crew, bradycardia/shallow breathing, was reported. The patient stopped breathing and lost pulse after approximately 2 minutes after arrival. The crew immediately initiated CPR and Advanced Life Support.
“The patient was clinically dead,” he said. “But we got a strong pulse back. The Narcan does not always work if the patient is too far gone. The family did not find him right away—it was down to the wire. Often when that pulse is gone it’s tough to bring them back.”
Medications were administered, in addition to the high-quality CPR, resulted in Return of Spontaneous Circulation the resumption of sustained perfusing cardiac activity along with significant respiratory effort after cardiac arrest. The patient required ventilation—and was still not breathing, through advanced airway en-route to Genesys Regional Medical Center, Grand Blanc.
The patient was treated in the emergency room and was later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at Genesys.
“This was good team work,” said Fortinberry.
At 7 p.m., April 9, the township medical team of Jack Kelley, paramedic; Ryan Crawfis, EMT; Lt. Brendan Fortinberry, paramedic; Russ Aderholdt, EMT; Capt. Dan Myers, EMT; Joe Keehn paramedic and Rick Lenz, Medical First Responder will be recognized at the township board of trustees meeting, 4695 Grange Hall Road, Holly.