At their regular August 5 meeting, the Houston City Council got to see four of the Houston Ambulance crew members receive awards for their lifesaving measures this year. Several important visitors attended the presentation of the awards including the person whose life was saved, Ellert Mindrum.
Ambulance Director Chris Cox presented the awards to Marty Momsen, Chris Tuveson, Tim Jergenson and Anna Frauenkron and related some of the details of the ambulance call.
On January 17, 2024, a call came in for an ambulance to respond to a man needing help at the BP station in Houston; 92-year-old Ellert Mindrum was unresponsive. The crew began CPR and transported Mindrum to the hospital. During the trip to the hospital, the crew needed to use the Lucas chest compression equipment on Mindrum when his heart stopped.
Mindrum was able to leave the hospital again “neurologically intact.” As a result, the ambulance crew became eligible for a lifesaving award. According to Cox, only about 9% of such patients are able to once again leave the hospital.
Ellert commented, “They got to be a little more Norwegian!” He also shared that he had been better, but about six weeks ago he had a virus that set him back to about 50% of how he’d been before the virus.
Cox informed the council that Ellert had not only come to the presentation of the awards, but had driven down to meeting himself!
Cox credited the facts that the call was made quickly for the ambulance and that the crew was trained and ready to quickly respond with the crew being able to save Mindrum. She pointed out that the Lucas equipment in the ambulance had been purchased thanks to a grant from the Houston Legion.
Cox shared that Momsen is going to be taking classes to become a paramedic and that Anna Frauenkron had recently completed her CPR and CISM (Critical Incident Stress management) training and had been instrumental in the Houston Ambulance becoming a training center for Minnesota.
The Mindrum family gave a donation to the ambulance to help them to continue to serve the people of Houston.
Regular Council Business
The council was a bit light on attendance for their meeting. City Administrator Michelle Quinn was absent, as were Mayor Scott Wallace and Councilman Steve Westby. Suzanne Peterson took notes for Quinn and Councilmember Cody Mathers took on the role of acting mayor and also voted as a councilman.
The handicap parking space near the dental office was discussed. Quinn had communicated with Kristi Treptow from Houston Dental Clinic and learned there was indeed a need for handicap parking at the clinic. A bus brings patients to the clinic and uses the parking spot. The easternmost storage unit is rented by the dental clinic; the parking space could be moved to in front of that space.
Larry Graf, owner of the nearby storage units had affirmed to Quinn that the current location of the handicap parking space caused issues with his renters in accessing their storage areas.
Ultimately, the council decided to move the handicap parking space designation to the end location in front of the dental office storage rental. This will be as close to the alley as deemed safe by city staff.
The council also affirmed that Mayor Scott Wallace and City Administrator Michelle Quinn have the authority to sign closing documents with the International Owl Center for the land purchase.
Karla Bloem, executive director of the Owl Center, asked if the right of first refusal document was also included in the documents. After discussion, the council said that they had already seen that document as well and it would be included with the purchase agreement.
PWD Randy Thesing informed the council that the first of the type J water meters had arrived and were installed. As the meters are installed, the crew will be checking for lead pipes as well. Eventually all of the 450 meters in the city will be replaced.
Leave a Reply