During the Rochester City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 3, first responders from several communities, including Dover, were recognized for saving the lives of a mother and her twins last year.
On the morning of Tuesday, June 15, 2021, Rochester emergency companies were dispatched to an address in Gonic for the report of premature childbirth of twins.
According to the report, after only 24 weeks of pregnancy, an individual went into labor and delivered two children just ahead of emergency crews arriving.
After an update from dispatch, it was quickly decided that additional resources would be needed as both children were in respiratory arrest and the mother was dealing with complications of her own.
Knowing that there were three patients requiring pre-hospital medical care, ambulances were requested from Dover and Farmington as well as E3 from the central station, in addition to an ambulance from Frisbie.
First on the scene was a paramedic from Frisbie Hospital, followed closely by Rochester E2 out of Gonic Station.
Both newborns required immediate CPR. According to Rochester Fire Department Assistant Chief, Timothy Wilder, the situation was “a very stressful and fast-paced environment as these newborns were so small they literally fit in the palm of your hand.”
All crews worked expeditiously to prepare the patients for transport to Frisbie Hospital where from there the Barbara Bush NICU Transport Team transported the infants to Maine Medical Center.
“It’s important to highlight the teamwork between the four agencies that came together on that Tuesday morning to effectively care for, transport, and deliver three viable patients to the hospital,” said Wilder. “These calls to most can be categorized as a ‘once in a career’ type of call and tonight we would like to recognize the emergency workers that made it happen.”
Representing Frisbie Memorial Hospital was Emergency Services Manager, Kevin Monte, presenting medals to Paramedic Rick Morrill, Paramedic Mariel Watson, and Paramedic Amanda Jenkes.
Representing the Farmington Fire Department was Assistant Chief Royal Edgerly, presenting medals to firefighter Cody Guile, firefighter Brett MacHenry, and firefighter Hope Moore.
Representing Dover Fire and Rescue was Fire Chief Michael McShane presenting medals to firefighter/paramedic James Calderone and firefighter/paramedic Hunter Holt. Calderone and Holt were recognized for their contributing efforts to resuscitate the twins, who were only minutes old and suffering from cardiac arrest.
Deputy Rochester Fire Chief Jarrod Wheeler presented medals to Lt. Devon Pageau, firefighter Pat Couch, firefighter Matt Woodbury, firefighter Paul Haggenmiller, and firefighter John Boodey.
Original source can be found here.
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