Arizona EMT saves premature baby after being born outside of the hospital

Arizona firefighter saves child born 9 weeks premature

FOX 10's Christina Carilla reports.

GILBERT, Ariz. - An EMT with Rural Metro Fire Central Arizona is being recognized as a hero after assisting a woman who prematurely gave birth to a baby who wasn't breathing.

While at Banner Gateway Medical Center in Gilbert, EMT Zach Dayton was finishing up paperwork with his partner, firefighter and paramedic Chris Fredman, for a patient when a woman began frantically banging on the doors to the emergency room, the department said.

"So I stepped outside to see what she needed, and then, she was a Hispanic woman, didn't speak English, and was just saying ‘baby, baby, baby,’" Dayton recalled.

Dayton was then led over to a car in the parking lot with a woman inside who gave birth to her baby nine weeks premature. The baby wasn't breathing, so Dayton "stimulated the baby trying to revive it and performed CPR while running back to the ER."

"I had the baby, and I was helping her get out of the car and the placenta dropped, so I picked up the placenta. I had the baby in one hand, the placenta in the other and at this point, I just ran back to the emergency department," Dayton said.

He kicked on the door until someone inside was able to let him in and turned over the child to the emergency room staff.

"We got right into a room the mother was right behind me and at that point, a hospital nurse took the baby from me, and she took over compressions," Dayton said.

After some time and repeated compressions, the child was beginning to show signs of life.

Because of Dayton, the mother and her baby are healthy and doing well.

"I don't think I thought very much, luckily the training kicks in," Dayton said.