URGENT – U.P. Breaking News Bulletin and Public Safety Advisory – 2-23-18 – 4 p.m. ET
Gladstone, MI man loses fingers in snowblower accident – and paramedics rushed him to Marquette for surgery
By Greg Peterson
U.P. Breaking News
Owner, News Director
906-273-2433
(Escanaba, MI) – Officials are trying desperately to help the fingers of a man involved in a Friday afternoon snowblower accident outside his home in Gladstone, MI.
The incident happened about 2 p.m. ET this afternoon, Feb. 23, 2018.
The victim’s neighbor first called police.
“The neighbor believes he may have cut off his fingers in the snowblower,” the dispatcher told Gladstone Department of Public Safety police responding to the scene.
Emergency personnel were called to the area of 1500 2nd Avenue North in Gladstone. The addresses given were 1521 and 1501 2nd Avenue North.
The neighbor was with the victim and he is “sitting down – and yes he cut his finger off,” the dispatcher said.
Anxious to get to St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba, the victim took off in his beige four-door Chevy – and he called 911.
Dispatchers then convinced the man to stop. The victim apparently pulled over a few blocks away.
Valley Med flight was initially requested to fly the victim to the trauma center in Marquette.
However, Rampart EMS paramedics decided it would be quicker if they rush him to U.P. Health System-Marquette. That decision was based on several factors including where to set up landing zone.
“Cancel Valley Med we are going to be going direct to Marquette with this patient via ambulance,” said a paramedic to the Delta County 911 Dispatch center.
Trauma surgeons will apparently try to reattach the fingers that can be saved.
The extent of the finger injuries was not clear. That will determine whether his fingers can be saved.
Sadly this man joins at least 100 Upper Peninsula residents who have lost fingers to snowblowers since they came on the scene over the past 60 years or more. Could not find an approx. date when the common home snowblower became popular with America homes.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates there are about 5,740 annual snowblower injuries in the U.S.
Upper Peninsula Breaking News by Greg Peterson 