Emergency dispatcher helps deliver baby over phone

COLUMBIA COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – An emergency dispatcher helped a family with an exciting arrival on Wednesday. She assisted a woman in labor with an at-home birth. NEWS10 caught up with that dispatcher who described the exhilarating moments.

It was anything but an ordinary day for emergency dispatcher Jessica Maloy. She’s worked for Columbia County 911 for the last nine years.

“It definitely becomes redundant day after day. You get the same, ‘I fell and I need help up,’ and the nursing home calls, and difficulty breathing, and chest pain, and we do get – quite often – cardiac arrests come in,” said Maloy.

But this was not a routine call. Maloy said she wasn’t even an hour into her shift when a gentleman called.

“His daughter-in-law was in labor. Today was her due date and she was having contractions and then we have a series of questions that we go through, standardized questions. Through asking those questions we figured out that this is coming,” said Maloy. 

The shift supervisor said it happened quickly. She guided them through the labor and helped deliver a baby over the phone, while EMS was en route to the call. 

“It’s different, right. This is obviously not something that happens every day so it’s pretty exciting when it does happen and I do hope that I get updates from them,” said Maloy. “Everyone was in good health and good spirits, and I can tell they were very excited, obviously, for good reason.”

She said the family was thrilled and she could feel the adrenaline from miles away. This is one thing emergency dispatchers regularly train for.

“We have different instructions for different types of scenarios and something we train for every year and stay up-to-date on our protocols of what to do in the situations, so that when it happens you’re ready to go,” said Maloy.

Columbia County 911 proudly made a Facebook post to memorialize the touching moment. Maloy wished the baby boy a “happy birthday.”