A healthy baby boy was welcomed into the world this morning, but he didn’t arrive in a conventional way.
Donald MacLellan, acting general manager for Medavie EMS Ontario Chatham-Kent branch, said the call came in at 6:30 a.m. Monday morning.
“We received a call through 911 for a patient in active labour in the Dresden-area,” MacLellan told the Sydenham Current.
“As you can well imagine, it was a rough commute for most motorists this morning, including us. The crew got through the response safely with the help of the Dresden Fire Department as well. They came in to assist us, they were grateful with helping shovel the driveway and helping move the patient from house to ambulance.”
“When they got to the scene, they had to stay on scene to deliver. She had progressed that far into her labour, they didn’t have the time to get ready and get moving towards the hospital.”
A few minutes after 7 a.m. the baby boy was born.
” It was delivered on scene in the patients home… from reports from our crews, it was a very normal and safe procedure done,” MacLellan said. “Everyone was healthy and well, before and after delivery. There was also a safe transport over to hospital, handing over care to the labour and delivery department.”
MacLellan said it is a “rare occurrence” for EMS crews to deliver babies.
“This day in age, the advanced care with preparation for any patient who is pregnant, it’s pretty rare to see a pre-hospital delivery done,” he said.
“We may see on average anywhere between 6-10 patients in a year where they are in labour, either we have time to safely transport them to hospital or we are performing that procedure in a pre-hospital setting… but it is very rare, it is not a common occurrence like it was years ago.”
MacLellan said paramedics are trained to deliver babies when necessary.
“Pre-hospital obstetrician care is part of our scope of practice as a paramedic,” he said. “We do receive primary education prior to being certified as a paramedic in performing that skill.”
MacLellan said the winter storm experienced yesterday and early today in Chatham-Kent made the call more challenging.
“This type of call on a good day is a call that requires good collaborative teamwork between everybody involved,” he said.
“All the way from the ambulance communication centre officer, to fire, as well as the front line paramedics. This patient and any family involved was getting some pre-arrival instructions from the communication officer before paramedics did arrive on scene. They were giving information to that patient and family to prepare for a potential delivery before EMS arrived… as well as preparing for the paramedics to arrived, with certain information… getting some warm towels ready, that sort of thing.
“As well, having someone have the driveway cleared, ensuring that we can easily see the house to make that as seamless as possible.”
MacLellan added: “A day like today, it takes a lot more effort with everybody involved to collaborate and make sure we are getting there safely. We’re performing all the medical procedure as safely as possible, as well as the transport piece.”
Overall, MacLellan said everyone did their jobs and it was a positive result.
“Everyone had a bit of a challenging day with the weather, but it turned out to be a good news story today.”
Kudos EMS !!! Kudos
Sitting here with momma and baby. Both are very healthy and doing well in the hospital. Thanks to all the EMS staff for everything this morning!
you are aware Registered midwives have been safely delivering thousands of Ontario babies at home for the past 21 years?
Just a helpful piece of advice for mother when trying to get birth certificate, you are going to need swarm affidavits from person who delivered your baby & from Dr @ hospital. We are 2 months after having our baby girl @ home surprisingly as well & we just got the letter telling us this. So we will be like April before we get our baby’s birth certificate or any baby bonus as well.