Crown crew makes special delivery
FORT FAIRFIELD — A crew on duty in Fort Fairfield with The Aroostook Medical Center’s Crown Ambulance service made a very special delivery recently, aiding a mother who had gone into labor several weeks before her twins were scheduled to arrive.
DELIVER TWINS — Critical Care Paramedic Fred Parsons and EMT Intermediate Matt McPherson, who work for Crown Ambulance, recently aided a Fort Fairfield mother in the delivery of her twins at her residence. 
The crew is being hailed for their heroic actions that put their expert training to good use when the woman, who was home at the time, realized she was not going to make it to the hospital.
Critical Care Paramedic Fred Parsons and EMT Intermediate Matt McPherson were on duty at Crown’s base in Fort Fairfield just after 7 p.m. April 19 when they heard a dispatch call go out for first responders to a residence in the community where a woman had just delivered the first of her two twins. The crew responded immediately, heading out to the home before the official call came into their station.
Parsons shared how the evening played out, once they arrived on scene. He noted the woman did not experience the typical warning signs, such as contractions, that lead up to giving birth.
“When we first arrived at the residence we were directed to a small second-floor bathroom by an off-duty Fort Fairfield police officer who was the first on the scene. The mother had not experienced any obvious signs of labor and suddenly found herself delivering the babies seven weeks prematurely. The first of the two twins had already been delivered and the baby was on the floor not breathing,” said Parsons, a veteran TAMC paramedic with 35 years’ experience. “The mother at that point was in distress and we went into action as a team to care for the newborn, mother and unborn child.”
Parsons took the lead, with McPherson assisting with the care of the newborn, clamping and cutting the umbilical cord and clearing the baby’s airway so it could breath on its own.
At that point, a number of other responders from the Fort Fairfield Fire Department and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent — also a trained EMT — were on site. A second Crown crew from Presque Isle responded as well.
Directing efforts on scene and focused on the mother, Parsons next worked with McPherson on what ended up being a more complicated delivery of the second twin, who was in a breech position.
“We saw the leg and knew this would be a far more challenging delivery. I remembered what I was taught in school and it all came together. We helped the mother deliver the baby,” said 32-year-old McPherson.
This marked McPherson’s first experience with delivering a child.
“I never expected my first delivery to be like this or with twins. It’s one of those really unforgettable experiences you can’t describe with words. We just wanted to make sure mom and babies were fine and breathing — which we successfully did,” said McPherson.
Shortly after the second twin was delivered at 7:17 p.m., the Presque Isle Crown crew, consisting of Critical Care Paramedics Ryan Morneault and Travis Norsworthy, arrived on scene. That crew then took responsibility for the two newborns, transporting them to the emergency room at TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital in Presque Isle.
Parsons and McPherson took care of the mother, transporting her to the emergency room where a team of doctors and nurses from both the E.R. and obstetrical unit were awaiting the arrival. The hospital’s medical professionals worked together to stabilize the patients before moving them to the O.B. unit.
“It’s like any other call. You step back, take a deep breath, remember your training and just do it,” said a humble McPherson a few hours after the excitement. “It’s pretty neat and amazing. Just knowing that the babies are okay makes it all worthwhile. It’s one of the best rewards of being an EMT.”
Although Parsons has delivered a baby before, this marked the first time delivering twins since becoming an emergency medical transport crew member in 1978. He recalled one other time when he had to deliver a baby in an ambulance en route from Mars Hill to Presque Isle in the early 1980s, but never before has he been involved in delivery of twins and under circumstances resembling anything close to this event.
“It’s that kind of situation that you train for that when it happens, you hope things all fall into place, and they did,” said Parsons. “It was amazing. It was a team effort that I am extremely proud to have been a part of. It’s one of those stories I’ll certainly sit back in my rocking chair and tell for years to come.”
Shortly after arriving at the hospital, the twins were transported to a Bangor hospital due to their premature status. No word was available on the infants’ conditions at presstime. The parents asked that neither their names nor those of the babies be used.
