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The Rushford Ambulance crew had a surprise guest at their regular meeting June 15. Alex Catevenis, the executive director of Southeastern Minnesota Emergency Medical Services, came to their meeting for a special reason. Catevenis was there to acknowledge some of the crew for their participation in the delivery of a baby!
Back on January 10, 2023, a call came in for a “woman in labor.” Shannon Meier was on call that day and responded quickly. A vehicle had arrived at the Rushford Ambulance garage and was parked right on the apron of the garage.
Inside, Shannon found a woman in the last stages of labor. Soon the baby’s head crowned and in no time a baby boy was born. Shannon placed the baby on his mom’s chest, and Shannon laid on top of the mother and child to keep them warm in the open vehicle, Andrea (EMT) and David Brand (EMR) and Alisa Payne (EMR) had responded to the call as well, arriving a few minutes after Shannon did. Police Officer Nate Klinski also responded to the call. Nate handed over his black winter police cap to be placed on the baby in another attempt to keep the baby warm.
Klinski, who at that time was also an EMR, explained that the police respond to ambulance calls to help in any way needed. Klinski has since gone on to earn his EMT and joined the ambulance crew.
Michael Evenson, a fire fighter and EMR, happened along and stopped to help too. All the emergency responders cooperate and help each other out during calls. Mike brought out the ambulance truck; mother and child were loaded and the ambulance headed to Winona. An intercept was done with Winona Ambulance; this involved some of the Winona crew joining the Rushford crew in their ambulance as they proceeded to Winona. At the hospital, both mother and child were declared healthy and well with no complications.
The mother had gone into labor at home. Since she was Amish, a neighbor who happened to be an EMT for the Lanesboro Ambulance was called to help transport her to La Crosse. On the way to La Crosse, they realized the baby was coming too quickly to make it. They called the Rushford Ambulance and stopped in Rushford for help.
This wasn’t the first birth for the mother. She had actually given birth to her first child in the exact same vehicle!
Shannon explained that this call felt more like mother-to-mother than EMT-to-patient. As a mother herself, Shannon was able to connect with the mother, stay calm and take care of the situation. Shannon had had a very emotional 24 hours. Just the day before, she had been on a call that ended with the patient coding. Now she had the experience of helping a new life come into the world. “It was real wonderful!” Shannon exclaimed.
She had not expected to deliver a baby on that call; she had thought she’d just be helping to get the patient to a hospital! Shannon was grateful for the ambulance team. According to Shannon, the attitude on the team is that everyone is important to the call. “Our team is a kind, compassionate and willing crew!”
Ambulance Director Joey Busse contacted Alex Catevenis because he felt it was important to recognize the good things the ambulance crew does. He had also written to the family of the baby born that night and invited them to attend the meeting, but had gotten no answer.
In order to be even more prepared, the ambulance crew will be doing an obstetrics training session in about a month. Busse will be bringing in nurses from Winona Health to do the field training. They plan to bring simulators. Busse will film the training and use it in the future with other classes. He will be beginning another class session in the fall.
After the well-deserved recognition, the crew got back to their night’s training. The topics for the night included training on diabetics, heat emergencies and vulnerable populations. Shannon shared that, as assistant director, she comes up with scenarios to which the crew responds. They are asked to handle the scenario as they would an actual call. “No call is easy – there are always surprises!” Shannon explained.
The ambulance crew trains twice a month with specific criteria in mind. Sometimes they train collaboratively with the fire department and the police as well.
Congratulations to the Rushford Ambulance Crew on that well-deserved Stork Award! The community appreciates all the work the ambulance department does!
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