UPDATE: Woman Loses Arm After Western Market Accident

The woman whose arms were crushed in a compactor at on Friday morning lost her right arm and faces two more surgeries today to repair her left arm, said Ferndale Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan.

Sullivan, who is the woman's cousin, said the family has requested her name be kept private.

"I didn't realize it was my cousin. I came in, assessed it was a female, saw her arms and when I looked at her face I said, 'Holy s---!'," Sullivan said.

Both of the woman's shoulders were dislocated and her arms had multiple fractures, Sullivan said. "Her right arm was hanging by a tendon and her left arm was partially amputated," he said.

Sullivan said doctors at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak amputated the right arm above the elbow on Saturday to save her life. Her left arm was badly injured, but the doctors were able to save it, he said.

"They had to put the bone of her left arm back together. She'll have a lot of physical therapy ahead of her," the fire chief said of his cousin.

The 51-year-old Western Market employee had pushed in a piece of cardboard that had popped out of the machine when the right sleeve of her hooded sweatshirt was pulled into the compactor, Sullivan said. "She was then pulled into the machine, but the workers responded and hit the panic button," he said.

A co-worker then laid the woman flat on the ground and talked with her. "She was conscious," Sullivan said. "Her face was pale gray and her lips were blue, but she was conscious."

Sullivan said the Ferndale Fire Department was on the scene within 10 minutes and on its way to Beaumont a short time after that. "She's in critical but stable condition," Sullivan said Tuesday. She'll have two more surgeries (Tuesday). She's lost a lot of blood, too."

Community comes together

The larger Western Market community – management, staff and customers – has rallied around the victim and each other.

Western Market owner Steve Selvaggio said the woman has worked at the market for four years and is a lifetime Ferndale resident. "She's genuinely a nice person with an excellent attitude and great work ethic," Selvaggio said.

The Western Market Facebook page has become a point of support for those wanting to pass messages to the woman and Western Market workers.

"A lot of people coming from all over to offer help (on the Facebook page)," Selvaggio said.

A grief counselor has been at the market to help the staff who witnessed the incident, as well as anyone who needed to talk, cope with the experience, Selvaggio said.

"Everybody is taking it pretty rough but the work is keeping us busy," he said. "We're pulling together, working hard to come together. Family is the right word to describe it here."

Many have asked how they can help. Selvaggio said they family is taking the lead on those efforts, but nothing has yet been decided.

State investigates accident

Sullivan said the compactor was purchased used by Western Market and the market may not have known about any modifications that were made that could have contributed to this accident. "We called in MIOSHA (Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration) to investigate," he said. "The Selvaggios have been very cooperative."

Ferndale has had serious accidents in the workplace before, Sullivan said. "We've had them in the industrial sections of town, but never on Main Street. Not like this."

Correction: The patient is in critical but stable condition.

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