Officer honored for saving life of woman
by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor
For the second time this year a member of the Rogers City Police Department (RCPD) has received a letter of commodation for saving the life of a Rogers City resident.
Mayor Scott McLennan read the letter addressed to chief Jamie Meyer about the actions of officer Jack Ryan during a presentation, Nov. 19, in council chambers.
“A recent call that resulted in a member of the RCPD acting quickly and heroically to save the life of a member of the community,” McLennan said, standing next to Ryan in uniform with members of his family in attendance.
Ryan was working the overnight shift Sept. 25 at 4:30 a.m. Ryan was the first to arrive at a call on West Orchard to provide aid to a 55-year-old woman who was having difficult time breathing.
Upon arriving, Ryan observed that the woman had become unresponsive and immediately started CPR.
“Doing so, by himself for five minutes, for more than five minutes before EMS (emergency medical service) could arrive,” said McLennan. “They then took over and transported the subject to the hospital. Quite often, that’s where the story ends.”
On the contrary, because if it weren’t for Ryan’s persistence in that dire situation, the outcome could have been far different.
“You were later informed by the Rogers City ambulance manager Jim Fleury, that the female resident was on her way to recovery, largely due to the response of officer Ryan,” said McLennan. “City Council commends officer Ryan for showing critical life-saving skills, as well as the ability to remain calm, cool and collected in a pressure packed, life or death situation.”
On behalf of council, McLennan passed along gratitude and said the letter would be going in Ryan’s personnel file.
“We continue to be proud of our RCPD and thankful for the excellent officers, who serve this community so actively and professionally,” said McLennan.
Following that final comment, there was a loud round of applause that rang out in the room.
“Jack, you are one of the finest and we appreciate you,” McLennan.
In other business:
• McLennan recommended Kelly Vogelheim as an appointment to the parks and recreation commission.
“She represents the youth component as part of 4-H,” said McLennan. A motion was made and approved by council. She is replacing Val Meharg, who was too busy to continue serving
• During the mayor’s report, McLennan urged city manager Joe Hefele to continue the process of setting up all the equipment so future meetings could be viewed on YouTube.
“This is a good time to be looking at that, we have a grant that would cover some social media assistance at the Main Street office,” said Hefele. “We could set up something pretty slick, that would be user-friendly, fairly easily.”
The grant should cover updates to the sound system because the biggest complaint from people watching is that it is difficult to hear.
• Hefele said the audit is almost complete with a virtual report coming soon.
