Jackson County addresses confuse ambulance crew

Wed, May 7, 2008    to del.icio.us

JACKSON COUNTY (AP) — An ambulance crew rushing to assist a man injured by a chainsaw was delayed when it went to an address on Lakeview Drive on Wamplers Lake, more than six miles from the actual accident scene — on Lakeview Drive on Sweezey Lake.

"When we talk about this area, we are talking about a very confusing place," said Nancy Sell, a registered nurse who helped take care of Otto Mahnke and keep him calm until the Jackson Community Ambulance crew located him.

A Jackson County Sheriff's Department official said the county gradually is eliminating duplicate street names, but Monday's incident provided incentive to step up the pace.

"We don't want this to happen again," said Lt. Steve Rand of the Emergency Dispatch Division.

Mahnke was in good condition Tuesday at the University of Michigan Medical Center, spokeswoman Karen Burr said.

Mahnke was trimming a tree outside his cottage on Sweezey Lake when the chain saw "jumped" and sliced into his arm between the wrist and elbow, said Jim Anderson, a neighbor who was helping Mahnke.

"It was bad, bad, bad. He lost a lot of blood," Anderson told the Jackson Citizen Patriot. "It was a huge gash."

Anderson tied Mahnke's arm, called 911 and his neighbor Sell, then waited for the ambulance. But it initially went to a Lakeview Drive on Wamplers Lake which, like Sweezey Lake, has a Brooklyn mailing address.

Norvell Township Police Chief Garry O'Dell checked his in-car computer and saw that the 911 call had come from a Sweezey Lake telephone exchange, not Wamplers Lake, Norvell Township Supervisor Adam Ulbin said.

Rand said the ambulance probably was delayed about 30 minutes because of the mix-up. Sell said she would have taken Mahnke to the hospital herself if they had had to wait much longer.

At least 20 streets have been renamed since a countywide ordinance aimed at eliminating duplication was passed last year, Rand said. But there still are seven Lakeview drives, avenues or courts throughout the county, including the three in Norvell Township.

"This was one that hasn't been addressed yet," he said. "I'm sure there will be discussion about it."