In January things got interesting 40 minutes into a flight when the attendant began asking passengers if there was a nurse on board. Thankfully Red Cross training partner and first aid instructor, Jessie Horodecki was there. A woman had gone into labour.
Jessie sprang into action, ready to help. When she met the mother, she asked the standard questions about the timing of her contractions and if this was her first baby. Upon learning this would be her fourth child Jessie knew it was ‘go time.’
“The mom was such a champ! She fought a couple urges to push but then she just looked at me and grabbed my hand saying, ‘I’m sorry’ and with one push out came the baby,” Jessie exclaimed.
Jessie spent the remainder of the flight caring for mom and baby. “It was crazy and intense! A really long 45 minutes,” she remembers.
It was also intense for the rest of the people on the flight. “It’s all hectic and then you hear this baby cry and then the whole plane cheers,” Jessie’s husband Dustin added. “It was good timing, lucky timing for everyone involved.”
“Nobody else on that plane had first aid so I think it really opened their eyes to the importance of taking a course in case something like this happened again,” she said.
“Having first aid training is really about staying calm, cool and collected in a crisis. I train a lot of people that want to help but they’re scared and it’s nerves,” Jessie explained. “Taking a course really helps get rid of those jitters. Not to say that they’ll disappear but it helps.”
We are happy to report that mom and baby are healthy and doing well.
Red Cross First Aid programs can help you be trained and ready to help too. Find a course near you: redcross.ca/findacourse.