December 31, 2012
Story by Joanne Anderson; Photo by Adam Loria
When Canmore paramedic David Cipollone and his partner, emergency medical technician Ursala Ambuehl, responded to a 911 call for a woman in labour, they knew they might help deliver a baby.
But they didn¡¯t expect the baby would be born two and a half minutes after they arrived.
¡°Once we arrived on scene, we took a moment to gather all of the gear and equipment we might need from the back of the ambulance, so we were prepared for whatever we might encounter,¡± says Cipollone about the response.
¡°As soon as we walked in the door, everything went from zero to 1,000 miles per hour.¡±
On Sept. 22, Ange Young had spent a quiet day at home with her husband Adrian Hayne. Just after 4 p.m., Young felt her first contractions. Moments later, Hayne called 911 because the baby was coming fast.
Ten minutes after being called, the responding EMS crew helped to deliver a healthy 6-lb.,15-oz., baby boy ¨C Myles Hayne.
¡°For everything that could have gone wrong, it was amazing how smoothly it all happened,¡± says Young. ¡°They were so well organized and David just kept talking me through what was happening. The whole experience was very special.¡±
Last summer, Cipollone, Ambuehl and other members of the Canmore EMS team had undergone a neonatal resuscitation course as part of ongoing training and upgrading of required skills.
¡°We routinely train to keep our skills up-to-date. This course was so fresh in my mind; I kept going over what we learned. It was a textbook delivery,¡± he says.
For Cipollone, this was the first delivery he had the taken the lead on in his 16-year career.
¡°I¡¯ve responded many times as the secondary ambulance to help out the new baby or the mom after a delivery, usually when one or both is very ill. It was refreshing to have such a positive experience with this birth,¡± he says.
Six weeks after young Myles was born, Cipollone was able to reunite with the family and meet under much calmer circumstances. The experience has re-energized Cipollone¡¯s enthusiasm for his job.
¡°So often as EMS, we interject ourselves into an emergency at a critical moment in someone¡¯s life. At the apex of a crisis, you are there to affect a positive outcome and, often before the dust settles, you hand the patient off at the hospital and are on to the next call,¡± he says.
¡°That is why this reunion is so significant; it helps validate the work we do. We don¡¯t often get to see the results of our work or ever know what happens to a patient.¡±
