Members and employees of the Elks Lodge in Macomb are credited with helping save the life of one of the city's aldermen. During this week's city council meeting, Fourth Ward Alderman Tom Koch publicly thanked them.
“I’ve always considered saving a life to be very, very important, in fact the epitome of what you can do in life. And you saved mine. Thank you,” Koch said while his voice broke with emotion.
The city recognized Ed Lavin, Ryan Carle, Jodi O’Rourke, and Mary Spencer for helping Koch.
Mayor Mike Inman said Koch is an officer for the Lodge. When he failed to show up for a recent meeting, the group went to his house to check on him.
“He wasn’t answering his phone and they thought it wasn’t like Doc Koch to not be at a meeting,” Inman said.
They found Koch had suffered a head injury from a fall roughly a week earlier. Even though Koch is a retired medical doctor, he initially decided against seeking treatment and the injury got progressively worse.
The group convinced Koch to go to the hospital.
“They convinced him his symptoms were indicative of something very serious,” Inman said. “Alderman Koch may have been more inclined to stay at home and ride it out, which from what we’re understanding would have been a fatal outcome for him.”
Inman called the actions of Lavin, Carle, O’Rourke, and Spencer “…kind of the good neighbor thing on steroids – they actually went the extra mile and took the initiative like you would want somebody to do in a neighborly community like Macomb.”
