Medical dispatcher helps couple deliver healthy baby girl

Medical Communications Officer Jade Morgan answered a call Tuesday morning that ended up being a bit different than normal.

A 37-year-old woman was in labour at 7:49 a.m. and about to give birth.

“The husband called and at first I didn’t really understand what the chief complaint was and I thought he was saying there was something wrong with the lady’s stomach,” Morgan told 650 CKOM. “I started to process the call like it was a traumatic injury or abdominal pain or something like that then I could hear her (the woman) in the background say ‘I’m having a baby’.”

Morgan, who’s been a telecommunications officer in Saskatoon for three years, talked the woman’s husband through delivery as paramedics responded.

“I didn’t really think much of it in the beginning. But then when you ask if he (the husband) could see, feel or touch any part of the baby he originally said no—then all of a sudden he goes ‘oh the heads out’ at that point you know things are happening a lot quicker than you expect them to,” she explained.

The healthy baby girl was born at 7:54 a.m. just moments before the ambulance arrived.

“It was just completely the mom that’s the hero of this situation she was just such a champ through all of this,” Morgan said.

Paramedics took mom and baby to Royal University Hospital to be assessed.

The call came as Medavie Health Services marks telecommunicators week—marking the accomplishments of medical dispatchers.

Morgan explained she usually doesn’t get to hear how stories end so this call was a bright spot of the day.

While delivering a baby over the phone is a unique situation, it’s not the first time Morgan has talked someone through an emergency.

“Last year I was able to help a lady go through CPR instructions to save her husband’s life,” she said.

They showed appreciation by making her heart-shaped cookies on Valentine’s Day.