`HERE WE GO AGAIN'
Trainee coaches two births
Rookie call taker Emma Freeman-Harkin with Ottawa Paramedic Service earned her first “stork pin” Friday after she coached two expectant parents through the birth of their baby girl as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Then, for good measure, she did it again the next day.
“We just looked at each other and smiled under our masks. It was, `Here we go again,' ” said Dominique Von Getz, Freeman-Harkin's mentor, who stood by her as she fielded both birth calls at the paramedic call centre on Don Reid Drive.
Freeman-Harkin, a volunteer firefighter in Richmond and owner of Crossfit YOW gym, started working as a call taker with the Ottawa Paramedic Service in September.
The first call came in Friday at 5:04 p.m. in the final hour of their 12-hour shift. Calls were coming in steadily when Freeman-Harkin answered one from a man in rural southeast Ottawa who said that his wife's water had broken. It's a situation that dispatchers train for, so Freeman-Harkin first made sure to get the location and sent an ambulance on the way under “Code 4” with lights and sirens on.
Then she set about coaching the mother to push.
The baby, a healthy baby girl, arrived just seven minutes later at 5:11 p.m.
Freeman-Harkin had the parents assess the baby's colour and breathing, then told them to place her on the mother's chest and to clamp the umbilical cord while they waited for the ambulance, which arrived a few minutes later.
“Her labour just progressed so quickly,” said Von Getz. “She just started pushing and dad was there ready to catch the baby, a baby girl. I've never been so happy to hear an infant scream.”
The baby call was also a first for Von Getz in her three years as a dispatcher. Freeman-Harkin handled the call like a pro, she said.
“It was an interesting dynamic because here I was coaching someone about how to coach someone.”
The two women were back at work Saturday when another dadto-be called at 11:48 a.m.
“He said, `I think my wife's in labour!' We're like `Hey! Cool,' ” Freeman-Harkin said. This delivery, also a girl, took slightly longer: 12 minutes.
“He was very focused, very attentive to his wife,” she said. “We both looked at each other and had a big sigh of relief when we heard that baby cry.”
The metal stork lapel pins are presented by the paramedic service to staff who are involved in a baby's delivery — a joyous part of a job that is often filled with tragedy.
Dispatchers rarely get to meet the people they help, who are usually just a voice on the end of the line they talk to until the ambulance arrives.
“We listen. We don't have a visual so we rely on our callers to tell us what's going on,” Von Getz said. “Sometimes you wonder how the person is doing or how mom and baby are doing, but you learn to put it out of your mind.”
Despite the short time they are involved with the caller, the dispatchers are an essential part of the “circle of care,” they said.
“We are that caller's first, first responder,” Freeman-Harkin said.
She just started pushing and dad was there ready to catch the baby, a baby girl. I've never been so happy to hear an infant scream.