- Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
Retired nursing policymaker and administrator, Thelma Campbell (second left), holds baby Vaniesha Findlay during a visit with the baby's mother, Shereen Smith (second right), on Thursday. Looking on are Marlon Creary (left), Gladstone Goulbourne (centre), and Frederick Walters, the three men who delivered the baby. The men were guided over the telephone by Nurse Campbell.
Trudy Simpson, Freelance Writer
WHILE HURRICANE Ivan battered the island with heavy winds and rains, Shereen Smith went into labour.
In pain, the 33-year-old security guard was trapped at home, with uprooted trees and other hurricane conditions making it impossible for her to get to hospital.
In the end, three men a chef/bartender, a soldier and a supervisor at a drinks company helped to bring her baby, Vaniesha Findlay, into the world.
The men 33-year-old Frederick Walters, 25-year-old Marlon Creary and 43-year-old Gladstone Goulbourne took charge and started monitoring Ms. Smith, their neighbour, in a house divided into four sections, after she said she was feeling pain.
"It was just a blessing. Our roof was lifting at the time but we couldn't concentrate on that. All we focused on was that little girl," Mr. Walters remembered, looking at the infant who was nestled in her mother's arms during The Sunday Gleaner's visit to Oakland Road, Kingston 11 on Wednesday. "It was a beautiful experience from start to finish, something none of us will forget for the rest of our lives," he added.
Mr. Creary, a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) private who guided the baby out of the womb, smiled and agreed. "It was a bit frightening but I regained my composure and did what I had to do," he said.
For Mr. Walters, the chef and bartender, this was a second chance because when faced with a similar situation years ago, he had been too nervous to be of help.
This time, he said he was mostly calm.
"It was scary. Not during the whole delivery though. At that time, I don't know if it was a blessing from God but all the fear left and we just moved like professionals," he remembered. "We were just hoping and praying that the process wouldn't be long or that there would be no complications because nobody could get to her."
ODPEM HELP
They did not do the delivery alone. Needing instructions, Mr. Walters telephoned the emergency operations centre run by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and was put on to retired nurse Thelma Campbell, who had spent almost 40 years in the nursing profession, first as a registered nurse and later as an official in policy-making and administration, before retiring in June 2004.
She was volunteering as the Health Ministry's representative at ODPEM's emergency operations centre between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and together, she and the three men, helped deliver the infant in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
"The call came in the night. Someone else received the call and said Nurse, this gentleman needs some instructions and I spoke to him and he said there was a lady who was in labour. He said they had water on the fire and that he was sterilising something. He started talking and I asked how often is she experiencing pain and he said every minute. I asked him what he was working with," recalled Nurse Campbell, who visited Ms. Smith and her baby on Thursday.
Nurse Campbell said her main aim was to ensure the health and safety of both mother and baby by preventing excessive bleeding, infections or tears during the birthing.
She also ensured that the umbilical cord was cut safely, a job performed by Mr. Goulbourne, an ex-JDF soldier who was trained in First Aid.
"First Aid helped me in so many ways. At first I forgot what to do but with the help of Nurse Campbell, I remembered everything. I'm proud of what I did and I would do it all over again for any woman who needs help. In fact I believe that if more men experience this, then they would respect women more" Mr. Goulbourne said.
Nurse Campbell also ensured that the afterbirth was expelled, that the baby was kept warm and that the mother and baby were taken care of.
In fact, she said that after guiding them to deliver the baby, there was a moment when she did not hear the baby cry.
"I said tap the foot and he did that and I said take the mucous out of the baby's nose and mouth and I heard the baby crying and I was happy about that," Nurse Campbell told The Sunday Gleaner Wednesday. "We even joked and asked if you are going to call her Ivonese. This is the first time that I had to instruct someone over the telephone. It was an interesting experience for me seeing that I was a midwife. I haven't used the skills for a number of years. I was in policy but right there in an emergency, it all comes back."
On Wednesday, Ms. Smith looked lovingly at her baby daughter, thanked the Good Samaritans and even smiled as she said she just might use "Ivonese" as the baby's pet name.
"All I could remember is my back and belly 'cause I was feeling a lot of pain. I just want to say thanks to everybody, thanks to Ms. Campbell and I am just giving God thanks that my baby is alive," Ms. Smith said.
