‘THEY SAVED HIS LIFE’
Greenwich parents thank GEMS for saving their ‘miracle’ baby
GREENWICH — For 6-week-old Benjamin Piro, “it was a complete miracle that he survived,” according to his doctors.
On May 13, Brittany Piro, who was 39 weeks pregnant, went into labor with her second child at her home in Cos Cob. But something went wrong, she said, and she began to bleed.
Every second counted, and Brittany Piro and her husband, Matt, gave credit to the quick actions of Greenwich Emergency Medical Service for the eventual delivery of their son as the medical emergency unfolded.
“It was amazing,” Brittany Piro said Wednesday at a Town Hall ceremony to honor the GEMS response team. “I am extremely grateful. They saved his life.”
Matt Piro added, “His doctors have said it was a complete miracle that he survived. We know how important every second was and we’re so grateful to the team for how quickly they responded and the training they had and the resources they had. You can’t really put it into words.”
The couple thanked GEMS paramedic Anthony Vontobel, who led the three-member response team with EMT Scott Baxter and with EMT Stephanie Busani, who is a volunteer member with GEMS’ Explorer Post program.
“The job doesn’t change, no matter if it’s something we’ve done before or not done before,” Vontobel said. “We treat every emergency the same. We adapt and deal with it.
“We knew in responding to this call that we couldn’t waste any time,” he said. “We had to move extremely quickly. There wasn’t much I could do with my training. I knew she needed an OB/ GYN specialist, so I had to get there fast.”
Baxter, who has three years of experience on the job, added that it seemed to be a normal call initially, “but we sensed the urgency right away. We went in and did our jobs.”
Vontobel has 18 years of experience as a paramedic, with the first six at New York Presbyterian Hospital in critical care and neonatal training. He has been with GEMS for 12 years.
Emergency responders need to to keep their cool and stay focused on these calls, he said.
“You let your training do the work for you,” Vontobel said. “You try to be personal with the patients and talk to them and be there for them. But you also have to keep your head cool to provide them the best care. If you let your emotions take precedence, then you’re not going to be able to provide that care for them.”
Still feeling emotional about the experience, Brittany Piro said she has trouble discussing it. The couple declined to go into details about the medical emergency, but everyone agreed that the lives of both mother and child were in danger.
The response
It was just after 10 p.m. when they called 911, Matt Piro said. The date should have been an indicator: Friday the 13th of May.
Greenwich Emergency Medical Services is nearby and was on the scene “within minutes,” he said. According to Patrick O’Connor, GEMS deputy director, the response time was close to six minutes. Vontobel said they were on their way to Greenwich Hospital in under 10 minutes once they arrived.
“Anthony knew exactly what to do,” Matt Piro said. “He made sure Brittany was taken care of and got her to the hospital as quickly as possible, where they performed an emergency Csection upon arrival.”
Their son, Benjamin, “was without oxygen for about three minutes after he was born so the quick response from Anthony and his team really saved his life. The doctors have said it was a miracle he survived and is doing well at this point,” he said.
Matt Piro said all of his newborn son’s test results have come back “completely normal” and he said the family was “very lucky and very grateful” to the GEMS team.
The ceremony
On Wednesday, First Selectman Fred Camillo presented citations to Vontobel and Baxter for their “heroic actions.” Busani could not attend because her flight back from an out-oftown trip was delayed.
“What you did there impacted a whole family and we can’t thank you enough,” Camillo told Vontobel and Baxter.
O’Connor credited the team for their work and noted the hard work of everyone at GEMS. “We’re proud when we’re able to present in this manner, but this is something we do every day,” he said.
Vontobel, who said the citation meant a lot, was happy to see the mother and newborn son doing so well after receiving care at Greenwich Hospital and in New Haven.
“It’s tremendous,” he said. “We get to see the after effect of what happened. You don’t always get to see that. When we do life-saves, we try to bring back the families to make announcements, which is great, and we get thank yous from people, too, which is always very appreciated. … It’s always a great thing to see families celebrating and the fact that he’s going to be healthy and strong, that’s all that matters. We’re glad mom and the baby are doing well.”
The family has been celebrating their “miracle baby,” and Matt Piro said Benjamin and his 2-year-old brother Dean have been “keeping us on our toes.” The whole family was there for Wednesday’s ceremony along with the boys’ grandparents and family friends.
“We have barely had time to even think about it because so much has happened, but we will say every now and then when we have a second to process it, how extremely lucky we are that he is here with us and doing well,” Matt Piro said.
“We can’t believe we got from where we were on that night to where we are now — where he’s perfectly healthy,” Matt Piro said. “I keep saying it, but it really is a miracle.”