Cape Town – A Gauteng family will be celebrating so much more this Christmas as their newborn son will be home after nearly losing him soon after he entered this world.
Samantha and Johann Pieterse, from Rooihuiskraal in Gauteng, cannot stop thanking the emergency medical services’ team who revived their newborn baby, Luke, after he was born with congenital pneumonia.
First-time mother Samantha, a nurse who works at a government clinic, opted for a home birth with her midwife. Things were going well and she went into labour late in the evening on November 29.
“The following morning, our beautiful son Luke was born. We had no reason to suspect that he would need special care, but when he came into the world, he was really struggling to breathe. He had been born with congenital pneumonia.
“It was very distressing. His breathing was so laboured that we could hear his gasps, and the midwife said we needed to call for urgent medical assistance. It was such a shock to me that I collapsed and they had to call Netcare 911 to send assistance for both of us,” Samantha explained.
Baby Luke was experiencing Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and his lips and fingers were turning blue from lack of oxygen, a condition known as peripheral cyanosis.
David Stanton, head of clinical and education at Netcare 911, said that when the caller described the baby’s symptoms and laboured breathing, the manager at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) recognised that the situation was extremely serious.
“A Netcare 911 intensive care ambulance as well as one of our regular ambulances and crews set off within less than a minute.
“Within a very short time of receiving the call, the teams arrived at the Pieterse’s home in Rooihuiskraal to find the baby boy wrapped in a blanket. The paramedics noticed that he wasn’t crying, which is unusual in a newborn and can often be a sign that they are not breathing well on their own,” Stanton said.
Fortunately, the ambulance was equipped with ICU equipment and paramedics could place baby Luke on an advanced neonatal ventilation system and stabilise him immediately.
The Netcare 911 intensive care ambulances are equipped with highly specialised life support equipment and crews, who can provide an intensive care environment for patients at the scene of an incident or accident and during transport to hospital.
In what probably felt like hours, Luke’s father, Johan, held his son while a life support paramedic fitted a special neonatal attachment to the bag mask ventilator, then later a continuous positive airway pressure [CPAP] device was used to gently inflate Luke’s little lungs and ensure he was getting enough oxygen.
Luke, accompanied by his father, was then rushed to hospital.
During transportation, Luke’s breathing and colour had improved and paramedics had stabilised him.
Samantha was transported in the other ambulance.
Days after being hospitalised, medical staff cleared Samantha and baby Luke for discharge.
“Luke’s stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after his birth was without doubt shorter than it would otherwise have been, thanks to the EOC’s sound clinical decision making and the rapid access to advanced life support that Netcare 911 provided,” Stanton said.
He stated they were overjoyed that baby Luke and his parents were all safely home and ready to spend their first Christmas together.
“We commend the Netcare 911 crews and team members who work together seamlessly each day as probably the only EMS system in the country that can get this level of care to a patient in such a short time frame,” Stanton added.
A happy Samantha thanks the Netcare 911 team for their swift response to their emergency and thanks all those involved in getting her newborn son home safely.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
IOL