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NJ dispatcher meets baby he helped deliver over phone

Chris Graham calmly talked woman through the delivery of the baby as well as the postpartum care

Dispatcher-baby.jpg

Photo MONOC EMS
Chris Graham meets the family on Tuesday.

By EMS1 Staff

IRVINGTON, N.J. — A dispatcher in New Jersey met the baby he helped to deliver over the phone Tuesday.

When Alicia Chaney’s contractions began at her home on August 5, her aunt, Felicia Goodman, immediately dialed 911.

Her call was answered by Chris Graham, communications supervisor for MONOC EMS in Irvington.

After getting the basic information in order to dispatch the ambulance, Graham stayed on the line and provided prearrival instructions to Goodman while the ambulance was on its way.

However, before it arrived, Chaney felt the baby coming. Graham, an 11-year veteran dispatcher, calmly talked Goodman through the delivery of the baby as well as the postpartum care.

The four were given the opportunity to meet face-to-face for the first time Tuesday.

“It’s great to finally see the faces of someone I spoke with on the other end of a 911 call, particularly with an outcome like this,” Graham said.

Goodman thanked the dispatcher for being “so calm when every thing here was so crazy.”