Sometimes an emergency dispatcher’s job can be a somber, if vital, one, summoning rescue units or police to a crime scene or car crash.

Once in a while, it’s joyful.

Staci O’Leary was working at the Gray Regional Communications Center on Sunday at 1 a.m. when a 911 call came in from a man whose wife was in labor. They thought they had time to get from Casco to the hospital – but they didn’t.

O’Leary guided the father and mother through the birth at their home. She relied on an emergency medical dispatch card that gave instructions to assist in a baby’s delivery.
 
They were on the phone for less than 20 minutes.

“We heard the baby cry. Everything went as well as it could,” O’Leary said. “I was just terrifically happy to be part of such a wonderful experience.”

“I had a smile on my face for the rest of the night.”

A rescue unit arrived to take the couple – and their new son – to the hospital.
 


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