When Dr. Pranav Pandya, DDS, went to his dental office on Main Street on Feb. 15, he had no idea what would happen later in the day.
On that Monday, Pandya wound up on the floor unconscious and members of his staff started performing CPR, while 9-1-1 was called. The highly trained emergency personnel from the Chelsea Area Fire Authority and Chelsea Police Department quickly arrived on the scene, assessed the situation, and took over his care before Huron Valley Ambulance (HVA) arrived to perform advanced medical care.
He was loaded into an ambulance and transported to University of Michigan Hospital where he spent the next month. Four months later, he’s back seeing patients after the combined efforts of a dozen people who were a part of saving his life.
And thanks to this quick thinking and well trained group of people, a potential life-ending situation became a life-saving one.
“This celebration of life today is what happens when everything works out. From the CPR started by Dr. Pandya’s staff, having HVA, firefighters and police on the scene quickly and everyone working together … it saved a life,” said Chelsea Area Fire Authority Chief Rob Arbini, who added that this type of outcome doesn’t always happen.
Those honored for their efforts were Pandya’s office staff members — Kathryn Clavier, Michelle Cunningham, Alexia Davis, Lisa Fitzgibbon and Heather Hall; Chelsea Police Officer Thomas Gilbreath; HVA personnel Ian Russell and Nick Wei and Chelsea Area Fire Authority firefighters Capt. Scott Basar, Lt. Derek Klink, and firefighters James Gaken and Nate Saarinen.
Although Pandya doesn’t remember much about what happened that day after Valentine’s Day, Arbini filled in some of the blanks for him Thursday after handing out awards to those involved in this wonderful life saving event.
