Fire-Rescue crew delivers baby in parking lot of Food City grocery store
By Jim Keithley
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TURNER, Maine (WMTW) — Three young first responders from Turner Fire-Rescue delivered a baby for the first time, a proud moment for the department.
Officials said a man was driving his wife, who was in labor, to a Lewiston hospital in the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 17. But the baby would not wait, so dispatch told the man to pull over and he stopped in the Food City parking lot along Route 4 in Turner.
Turner Fire-Rescue was dispatched to the parking lot shortly before 2:30 a.m.
Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) Chris Bellefleur and Sean Connelly were the first to arrive.
“We were waved down by an excited male,” Bellefleur said. “When I hopped out of the rescue, I grabbed a couple pieces of equipment. I went over and [the father] said he could see the baby’s head. I made contact with the mother, introduced myself and noted that the baby’s head was crowning.”
“From there, we went straight into the delivery process,” Bellefleur continued. “One minute later, we had a healthy baby girl in my hands.”
Turner Firefighter Camden Pack also arrived to assist in the transport of the baby and her parents, all of whom were eventually taken to the hospital.
“It was definitely my first, of course,” Pack said. “We have a lot of training here, as well, so that helps prepare you for that type of call.”
“Mom and dad were both very grateful that we arrived when we did,” Bellefleur said.
“Everything went so smoothly and they did a fantastic job. It is definitely a chief’s proud moment,” said Turner EMS Chief Lisa Bennett.
Bennett took to social media to tell the world how proud she was of her young first-responders, who have earned their first stork pin. She also said the department’s ambulance will receive a stork decal to indicate that they had a baby delivery.
“If you had a girl delivery, you’ll get a pink stork. If you had a boy, you would get a blue one,” Bennett said.
“Amazement is what I was feeling. Just being part of something like that was pretty – for lack of a better term – it was pretty cool, in my opinion,” Bellefleur said. “But it was stressful.”
Bennett said she had not heard from the proud parents as of Monday. She would love to get an update to see how mom, dad and baby are all doing.
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