The North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, about 70 miles north of Grand Rapids, is the largest immigrant detention facility in the Midwest. Emergency call logs from Lake County dispatch show big spikes in the number of calls from the facility in both October and December, after the average daily population swelled to more than 1,000 people.
In the beginning, the calls sounded a little rough; the callers didn’t always know the facility’s address, there’s one call where an ambulance on scene couldn’t get in because staffers couldn’t find the keys to let them in. But a couple months in, the dispatchers know North Lake’s address already, and they sound familiar with the officers because they've made so many calls.
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“We’re going to need an M-E”
56-year old Nenko Gantchev died in North Lake on December 19, after federal agents picked up the native Bulgarian in Chicago, where he lived. The cause of his death and an autopsy haven’t been released.
When the call came into the county dispatch at 9:16 p.m., both ambulances in Lake County were routed, at the highest priority level.
“I have a detainee that is unresponsive, late 50s, male, and they're doing chest compressions as we speak, or performing CPR,” an officer told the emergency dispatcher.
The first medic unit arrived on scene fast, in three minutes. It’s not clear how much time elapsed until one of the first responders calls back to dispatch to ask for an M-E, a medical examiner.
“We're going to need an M-E,” the medic said. “An M-E?” the dispatcher repeated back, sounding surprised.
“Crap. I didn't think of that,” she said. “Sheesh, okay, you don't need a deputy or anything, do you?”
“I don't think so,” the medic replied.
But they will need a deputy to file a police report. The dispatcher also called a local funeral home. The police report says the man was breathing when staff found him on the ground around 9:10 p.m. that night.
“Medical staff responded within minutes, observed agonal breathing and cyanosis, and initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use,” an undated detainee death report from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated.
The single page report said Gantchev had a history of diabetes and hypertension. It said he received lab work, medications, “regular assessments by advanced practice providers and physicians” and was referred to a cardiologist.
“Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel arrived promptly, applied a mechanical chest compression device, administered advanced cardiac life support medications, and continued resuscitation efforts for nearly 30 minutes,” the report said.
His time of death is listed in the police report as 9:54 p.m.
“The detainee just collapsed while he was standing in his cell.”
Many people at North Lake are picked up by federal officers when they’re driving, or at work, and they’re transferred to detention with no bond hearing — hundreds of miles away from home. People detained there have told Michigan Public in interviews it can be a very stressful experience.
There are a few calls for an attempted suicide or “altered mental states.”
“The detainee is a male around age 30 or so. He's been on suicide watch for some time, has refused eight meals, currently, has not been taking his psych meds, and has refused to see medical staff or psychologists,” an officer told dispatch in an emergency call placed on November 22.
“And as far as we can tell, the detainee just collapsed while he was standing in his cell,” she said.
Medics arrive in less than 10 minutes and have him en route to the Corewell Health Reed City Hospital about 15 minutes later.
Three days after that incident, a call comes in for another attempted suicide. This time, the officer reports the person is 23 years old.
“Is he breathing?” the dispatcher asked.
“I believe so,” the officer who made the call said.
“How did he attempt?”
“I'm not sure how he attempted. The only information that our medical staff gave me was that he has been refusing to see medical staff and refusing his psych medications,” the officer responded.
About a half an hour later, Life EMS, the company that runs ambulances in Lake County, had the man en route to Munson Healthcare’s Cadillac Hospital.
“We would like to request our third ambulance for today.”
Most calls are for detainees, but sometimes it’s a staff member who needs help. There’s a call for a staff member who passed out, another for someone who slipped on ice and hit their head. In one call, a newly pregnant staff member had a seizure.
This facility is just outside of Baldwin, a small town in a rural area.
Two weeks after Gantchev’s death, on December 28, there were four emergency calls from North Lake in a single day. By the third call, there’s some familiarity between the people talking. The dispatcher knows the address from memory, and collects some information about this 56 year old patient.
“And what's up with him?” the dispatcher asked.
“Abnormal EKG,” the officer said.
“What’s today, EKG day?” the dispatcher bantered.
“Yes, apparently, we're learning,” the officer responded.
GEO Group, the company that runs the North Lake facility, declined to comment for this story.
