Randy Holtz saw a potential tragedy turn into triumph Tuesday morning. TUESDAY’S delivery was the second in Holtz’s 39-year career in EMS.
Holtz, a paramedic with the Allen County Emergency Medical Service based out of the Iola Fire Department, delivered a baby girl at the mother’s home in rural Allen County.
Holtz and driver Ryan Chapman were called to the residence when the mother — whose name has been kept confidential — realized she was in labor.
As the ambulance arrived at the scene, Chapman, an emergency medical technician, and a sheriff’s deputy unloaded the cot while Holtz raced to find the young mother in a bedroom.
Labor had advanced to the point the young baby girl had started to emerge, Holtz said.
The danger at that point is suffocation, Holtz explained. He worked with the mother until the infant’s shoulder began to emerge.
“That was the key,” Holtz said. “As soon as that shoulder popped out, she came out on her own.”
“By the time we got in there with the cot, he was holding the baby,” Chapman added.
A tense few seconds passed as Holtz immediately used a small tube to suction out any potential fluid in the baby’s nose and mouth.
He then began to pat down the infant.
“That should be enough stimulation to get her to cry,” he explained.
It was.
“I’ve got to tell you,” he said. “To hear that cry, it’s the most beautiful sound in the world.”
Once the baby was delivered and her umbilical cord cut, both the mother and infant underwent a quick battery of tests to ensure they were ready for transport to Allen County Regional Hospital.
Two other paramedicts, Ryan Sell, EMS director, and Michael Burnett, also were on the scene to assist.
Both mother and daughter were transported to the hospital without incident.
“It was a team effort,” Holtz said.
A follow-up phone call by doctors at ACRH revealed both mother and child are healthy, Holtz said.
Holtz also noted the frenetic scene when he arrived.
“The key is to stay calm,” he said. “Once the family sees that you’re calm and professional, it settles down the situation quite a bit.”
And even though it had been more than 36 years since his first delivery, Holtz said training was the key.
“You’d be surprised at how things fall together like they’re supposed to,” he said.
Situations such as Tuesdays are a vivid illustration at why emergency personnel go through the training they do, he said.
“That’s why we go through those long classes,” he said. “So when you come across a situation, you need to know how to handle it.”
The first was in the back of an ambulance at the intersection of Seventh and Pennsylvania streets in downtown Joplin in 1978. Like then, both mother and baby made it through unscathed.
Holtz, who lives in Pittsburg, has been a paramedic for 16 years.
He joined the Allen County EMS about 4 1/2 years ago, and has remained as a City of Iola employee after the two EMS services merged in 2014.
Paramedics help with home birth
