NEW ambulance service call handler Jordan Clarke-Rivers is on cloud nine after helping to make not one but two very special pre-Christmas deliveries.
Just six weeks into her new job, the 19-year-old from Horndon-on-the-Hill has twice been called upon to give vital instructions and reassurance to anxious fathers-to-be as their partners enter the final stages of labour in unplanned home births.
And both calls came within just six days of one another!
The dads of the two fit and healthy boys have heaped praise on the young call handler for remaining cool, calm and collected at a time when they were filled with panic.
Ben Saunders, whose wife Hannah gave birth to Ruben on Saturday (20th December) morning, said: “I was in a blind panic. Jordan was really good. She guided us through all we needed to know and the baby came out perfect.”
Ben, a gas engineer from Basildon, added that he called an ambulance after the final stages of labour came on faster than expected: “This is our second child and the first took 24 hours. This time we didn’t realise Hannah was that close. Jordan said where to hold the baby and where to push. It was all over in about three minutes.”
Earlier in the week around 5am on Tuesday, 16th December, Jordan talked Ahmed Mohamed through the birth of his and wife Lisa’s son, Zayne. Ahmed said Jordan’s help was invaluable: “I don’t think I was going to make it without her. She was really helpful. The baby had the cord around his head and she warned me this could be happening and she told me to be careful. She stayed with me on the line until after the baby started crying. She told me to put the baby on Lisa’s chest and then the ambulance crew knocked. They came upstairs and the baby was fine. It happened really fast.”
Jordan, who works at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) emergency operations centre in Chelmsford, said: “We have had lots of guidance on what to do in these situations so I felt prepared. I didn’t think I’d be delivering a baby so soon and being so young it’s a big thing to achieve. My job is quite different things to my friends’ jobs. I’m proud of myself.”
Nikki Young, a duty officer in the centre, said it is extremely unusual for a call handler to be involved with the delivery of two babies in such a short space of time. She said: “Delivering a baby happens once or twice a month across the region. For Jordan to be able to deliver two babies is a blessing.”
Nikki, who was on duty during Saturday’s birth, said call handlers are trained to deal with an extremely wide range of emergency calls but added Jordan coped remarkably well given that she is new to the profession.
She said: “Fortunately we are in the position to give advice on how to deliver a baby if things happen really quickly. Jordan gave full birth instructions and did absolutely fantastically. I’m very proud of how she handled it – it was an example of how a call handler should work.”
