Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
School staffers help deliver baby boy in parking lot
Workers jump into action at Galaxy Elementary
The staff at Galaxy E3 Elementary School in Boynton Beach is accustomed to dealing with crises, ranging from the sound of off-campus gunshots to giant iguanas making kids run wild.
But an emergency on Tuesday was a first. A baby, the grandson of a cafeteria worker, was born in a school parking lot, delivered with the help of school employees.
The daughters of Galaxy cafeteria worker Marie Benoit arrived at the rear loading zone of the school on Tuesday morning to pick up Benoit on the way to the hospital. One daughter, Melissa, was in labor in the car.
As Benoit’s younger daughter ran in to pick up her mother, Melissa could wait no longer: The baby began to emerge in the front passenger seat.
Bonnie Rawlins, food service manager, ran to the car and opened the door. She told Sharon Dames, head custodian, to call 911.
Dames, 39, who has worked at the school for 13 years, ran to the front office. “There’s a baby being born behind the cafeteria!” she told them breathlessly. Then she ran back to the scene of the action.
Rawlins, 55, a mother of two who has worked at Galaxy for eight years, gathered an assortment of cafeteria implements that
could double as birth-assisters: latex gloves, a fresh package of towels, hand sanitizer and scissors to cut off clothing.
Dames, a native of Jamaica and mother of four, all of whom attended Galaxy, put on the gloves, and cleared the gathering crowd. She took the baby boy from his terrified aunt. Dames said she gently rubbed him clean with the towel. She began to pray: His hands and feet appeared to be turning blue.
“‘In the name of Jesus,’ I kept saying it over and over,” Dames recalled, imploring God to save the newborn. Dames said the baby’s eyes began to open and he tried to suck on the towel, which she took as a good sign.
Then the ambulance arrived. Here’s what Boynton Beach Fire-Rescue posted on Facebook:
Firefighters “Krystal Gomez and Ian Finlayson assisted a young mother who gave birth in her car this morning. The newborn was lethargic and not crying. Crews immediately began to suction and stimulate. We’re happy to report mother and her beautiful baby boy are doing well!”
Melissa Benoit declined to be interviewed, said Lisa Kronhaus, spokeswoman for Bethesda Health in Boynton Beach, where Benoit is recuperating.
The family named the newborn Caleb.
“They didn’t name him Galaxy,” joked Principal Lisa Steele, who was off campus during the hubbub. “But what a story he’ll be able to tell one day.”