SOUDAN — A medical emergency caused a quick end to the Breitung Community Picnic on July 6. Tower Ambulance Supervisor Dena Suihkonen was ready for her turn on the dunk tank, sitting on the bench above the water, when something went terribly wrong.
“From what I remember the seat started to mess up and went backwards, pushing me off,” she said. Suihkonen fell backwards onto the ground.
“I couldn’t feel anything,” Suihkonen said. “So, I knew it was serious.”
Suihkonen said her mind immediately shifted into EMT mode.
“I have a bad habit of trying to take over,” she said. “I was telling EMT Steve Freshour to call in Virginia ALS and Lifeflight.”
EMT Matt Tuchel was also on the scene, and told me I was not in charge, that they were, she said.
“It was hard to let them do their thing,” she said. “But it was nice to see they were able to.”
Virginia ALS was quickly on scene and started administering pain medication. Shortly afterwards, Lifeflight arrived.
“I thought the helicopter ride would be more fun that it was,” Suihkonen said, speaking to the Timberjay on Wednesday, her sense of humor still intact.
Once at St. Mary’s in Duluth, she immediately had an MRI and then surgery to repair the broken T11 and T12 vertebrae, as well as some other damage in the middle of her back.
“I have a brace on my back now,” she said. “We are watching and waiting. I only have feeling down to my hips.” She is currently in the ICU at St. Mary’s.
Recovery from the injury will take time, she said, and she expects to get released to Miller Dwan rehab center in a few days.
“My mind is strong. My body is strong. I will do everything I can,” she said, noting she is almost 60 years old. “I am breathing and my mind is fine. Everything else we can fix. I can deal with this. Right now, we are in the fixing mode.”
Her husband and four daughters have been with her most of the time, she said, and all her grandchildren who were at the picnic when the accident occurred are doing okay.
“They had plenty of people there to take care of them,” she said.
Suihkonen said she will truly miss being at the Old Settler’s Picnic on July 19, the first time since she was a child that she will miss the event. The Tekautz and Suihkonen families have been major volunteers at this event for many years, and this will be the first picnic without her father, Chuck, who recently passed away. She said she is certain that other volunteers will step in to help out.

Township response
“We are amazed at all the people who helped clear the scene to prepare for the helicopter landing,” said Breitung Clerk Amber Zak. “They took down the large tents so quickly and cleared the scene for the arrival of the helicopter.”
In addition, all the others still at the picnic quickly moved off the field to be out of the way in case the helicopter landing picked up the playground woodchips or other debris.
Breitung Township would like to thank everyone who gave support and helped during the medical emergency.
The picnic was well attended, and most of the food had been served up when the accident happened. Township volunteers served up 200 ice cream floats (root beer or orange), as well as plenty of hot dogs, chips, popcorn and pop.
“We went through 16 gallons of ice cream,” Zak said.