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 – 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.”
