GILBERT, Ariz. — Two Rural Metro firefighters are being hailed as heroes after they came to the rescue of a woman and her newborn baby Tuesday afternoon.
Officials said while attending to a patient at Banner Gateway Hospital in Gilbert, EMT Zack Dayton and Firefighter Paramedic Chris Fredman were finishing paperwork when a woman started frantically banging on the door to the ER yelling, “Baby, Baby, Baby!"
Rural Metro officials said Zack followed the woman to a vehicle in the parking lot where he found a recently delivered infant and mother. The infant was not breathing, and the umbilical was still attached, so Zack began performing CPR.
Carrying the infant back to the ER, he could not enter the locked doors while holding the child and performing CPR, so Zack kicked on the door until someone inside let him in.
Once inside, Zack let the staff know he had an infant in distress and turned the child over to ER staff. Firefighters said the child was beginning to show signs of life at that time.
Rural Metro said the woman who had gotten Zack's attention was the baby’s great grandmother. Officials said the child, who was approximately nine weeks premature, and the mother are both healthy.
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