WAYLAND, MI – Gun Lake Casino recently presented four public safety agencies with $39,500 in monetary donations to better provide public safety services to the local community. The Allegan City Police Department received $7,158 to purchase a new DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced Drone, while Allegan County Search and Rescue received $1,000 to assist the local police and fire departments during rescue searches for missing persons. Together, the Leighton Township Fire Department and Hopkins Area Fire Department received $31,436 to purchase two LUCAS 3 Chest Compression Systems.
“Gun Lake Casino is exceptionally proud of our longstanding and strong commitment to the local public safety agencies in our area,” said Sal Semola, President and Chief Operating Officer of Gun Lake Casino. “Today, we are honored to support our local public safety departments with the monetary donations needed to purchase the latest life-saving equipment. The importance of safety professionals is undeniable and every essential worker should have the necessary tools to protect our community.”
Representatives of the Tribal Council and Gun Lake Casino were joined by members of the Allegan City Police Department, Leighton Township Fire Department, Hopkins Area Fire Department, and Allegan County Search and Rescue. Each representative offered remarks about the importance of partnering to support public safety services.
“As leaders of the Allegan County Search and Rescue, we continually strive to provide the best support for our group of volunteers that have put in countless hours of training to help keep our community safe,” said Randy MacNeill, Chief of Allegan County Search and Rescue. “Our group consists of around 30 members from all walks of life and can provide various levels of services through our search capable Equestrian team, kid-friendly K-9 team and the rest of us, the ground pounders and support team. This donation will go a long way in providing the necessary resources for our group and ultimately the community at large.”
The purchase of the DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced Drone supports the Allegan City Police Department, Allegan County Sheriff’s Department, and Allegan County Special Weapons and Tactics team. It is anticipated that the drone will assist with a variety of search and rescue activities, police situational awareness, aerial damage assessments, any other emergency operations.
Josh Morgan, Officer of the Allegan City Police Department, was present to display the new DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced Drone, which features a variety of improvements over older style devices. The enhanced camera system includes forward looking infrared cameras, which use heat admitted from objects to see through the darkness. This ability makes finding missing children, missing adults with disabilities, and apprehending criminals possible in low light conditions.
“The Allegan City Police Department is grateful to the Gun Lake Casino for its generous donation of a drone that has the ability to use high quality thermal heat signatures to locate missing children, vulnerable adults, and suspects at large,” said Morgan. “The Allegan City Police Department is an active member of the Allegan County law enforcement community and looks forward to this gift benefiting Allegan County and its surrounding communities.”
Members of the Leighton Township and Hopkins Area Fire Departments also performed demonstrations using the LUCAS 3 Chest Compression Systems to show how this important device will save lives in the community.
“The Leighton Township Fire Department would like to thank the Gun Lake Casino for their donation of a LUCAS device,” said Matt Weston, Fire Chief of Leighton Township Fire Department. “With such a large area relying on volunteer first responders, and often EMS coming from 12 miles away, this lifesaving device will allow our limited first responders to provide high quality care and frees up responders to provide other necessary care to the patient. We have witnessed firsthand the lifesaving capabilities of the LUCAS machine on a neighboring department, also donated by Gun Lake Casino. Leighton Township is excited to also add this tool to our arsenal.”
The compression equipment is used by EMS personnel responding to cardiac emergencies. The LUCAS 3 machine is a CPR device that is designed to mechanically deliver accurate and consistent chest compressions to a victim of cardiac arrest. The LUCAS can be placed on a patient while CPR is being given, and once in place the machine will give consistent compressions to the patient.
“It is vital that our fire departments have the ability to provide effective CPR to those in need,” said Semola. “To date, Gun Lake Casino has provided Wayland, Leighton Township and Hopkins Area Fire Departments with a LUCAS 3 Chest Compression System.”
