Two Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) personnel in Quezon City surprised a pregnant woman when they rushed to her house, not to put out a fire but to assist her deliver her child.
SFO1 Peachy Recato, along with her colleague FO3 Kimberly Bustamante rushed to the side of the pregnant 26-year-old woman in Barangay Project 6 last week after the beleaguered husband sought their assistance finding no available midwife nearby.
"'Yung asawa po kasi nagtawag po sya ng barangay, kaso wala pong available sa barangay. Tapos po, nagtawag na po sya sa fire station. Then si fire station, si Project 6, ni-relay naman na po sa amin yung info. Nataon po kasi na wala kaming COVID-19 response na labas, kaya napunta kami sa reported emergency situation (The patient’s husband went to the barangay to ask for help but did not get any. So he called the fire station in Project 6 which relayed the information to us. Luckily, we had no COVID-19 response that time so we were able to respond)," Recato told Manila Bulletin.
Recato said the woman did not expect to deliver her child early and the midwife who was about to assist her was not available at the time she was about to give birth.
"(Bago sya manganak), nag-ano po yung pasyente, naglakad sa Philcoa... tapos ayun, baka po na-force po na manganak ng hindi sa oras (Before she gave birth, the pregnant woman walked to Philcoa. That might have forced her to give birth early)," she added.
Wearing face masks, face shields and birthing equipments on hand, Recato and three more personnel rushed to the house at around 8:30 a.m. of Sept. 13.
Recato said, the pregnant woman and her neighbors were surprised to see that fire personnel—not a midwife - would help her deliver her baby.
"Di po nila expected na tiga fire (department) po yung dadating. Yung patient, nagulat po, pati yung mga tao doon nagulat na si fire ang nandoon (They did not expect that personnel from the fire department would respond to that kind of emergency. The woman and her neighbors were surprised that we were there)," Recato shared.
Recato said she and Bustamante are registered nurses assigned at the Quezon City Fire Department's Emergency Medical Service unit. This is her second time to assist in childbirth after 2015.
She said both the mother and her baby are doing well.
"Wala po syang any complication. Binlod pressure po namin, sugar level. Normal po sya (The mother did not have any complications. We got her blood pressure and sugar level. Everything was normal)," she said.
After the safe delivery of her child, the mother said she would name her third son Von Fire, Recato said.