fp Turks and Caicos

Emergency Medical Services personnel assisted in the miracle of birth in a Five Cays shelter during Hurricane Irene, and then the flood waters were parted so the new mum and daughter could be taken to the hospital.

Waters parting was the miracle of volunteerism, as Boots Luddington drove his front-end loader through flooded streets and tropical storm force winds on the morning of Aug. 24, pushing water aside with an EMS ambulance right behind him.

Once winds got dangerously strong just before dark Aug. 23, police declared an emergency vehicle restriction, meaning that no public vehicles were allowed to travel, said Turks and Caicos Islands EMS Paramedic Supervisor Pat Riel.

“It’s really frustrating not to be able to respond to the calls, but when it’s unsafe, it’s unsafe,” Riel said.

One EMS ambulance was scheduled to remain at the hospital during the storm, but the crew volunteered to station themselves at the shelter at Enid Capron Primary School instead, Riel said.

EMS volunteer Emergency Medical Responder Johanne Karam and EMS driver Giny Benjamin walked in the rain that night, knocking on doors in the Five Cays area, encouraging mothers with small children to go to the shelter. As Irene worsened, they elected to spend the night at the shelter to provide any assistance they could.

Just before 8 a.m. with winds still howling, a woman showed up at the shelter about to have a baby. With no doctors, nurses or midwives in the shelter, Karam and Benjamin assisted in the delivery of a baby girl.

“I consider them to be heroes, and in light of the unexpected delivery, we all should,” Riel said.

There was some uncertainty about the condition of the baby, so EMS decided to transport mother and child to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre.

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“Boots had offered his assistance with fuel and a front end loader weeks before the storm,” Riel said. “He’s offered it in the past, and again a couple of days before the storm he reoffered.”

“The ambulances just couldn’t negotiate that water, and we gave him a call,” Riel said. “He parted the seas like Moses.”
Luddington also helped with several other calls in the same way, Riel said.

Riel said some problems were caused by people not heeding warnings to stay put during the hurricane and afterward when flooding was worst. In fact, full term pregnant women had been advised to stay in the hospitals during the storm, Riel said.

“I have to say that’s a big part of the problem,” Riel said. “It’s not the storm, it’s the people. It’s always human behavior that’s most dangerous and unpredictable.”

“It was an absolute blessing that there was no life lost, no significant trauma. Everything worked out really, really well.”

Photo/Video: Boots Luddington plows water for EMS. (Pat Riel/EMS)