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Community Corner

Family Reunited With Cetronia Crew Who Delivered Baby

The Ramme family wanted to personally thank the emergency responders who came to their aid.

Four emergency responders with the were commended last week for their skill in delivering a premature baby at a home in Whitehall Township earlier this year.

Two paramedics, Joan Reilly-Rosa and Bill Reynolds, were awarded a Stork Pin for delivering Samantha Marie Ramme (born four weeks early) at her home on March 7. She was 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and measured 19 inches.

Reilly-Rosa and Reynolds and EMTs Luke Bulmer and Joel Lindtner were reunited with the Ramme family at the Cetronia Operations Center in South Whitehall.

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Also present during the ceremony was Whitehall Township mayor Ed Hozza and Whitehall interim Police Chief Linda Kulp, as well as the families of the four honored crew members.

Larry Wiersch, chief executive officer of Cetronia Ambulance Corps, emphasized the importance of acknowledging successful pre-hospital deliveries, due to the difficult and potentially dangerous health risks involved for infant and mother. 

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“We don’t often get to deliver babies and bring new lives in, and have a joyous outcome,” Wiersch said. “Frequently we have circumstances that are life-threatening.”

The Ramme family wanted to reunite with the four crew members. Jennifer Ramme was joined by her husband Glenn, their two older sons, Zach and Kyle, and, of course, Samantha.  Glenn Ramme had not been home when Samantha was born; he had been in Philadelphia on business.

“It’s great to see them again,” Jennifer said of the crew members. “They are wonderful. I was in no position to be appropriately thankful that night at all. I am really glad to get the chance to see them again.”

For Bulmer and Reilly-Rosa, receiving the Stork Pin was rewarding. Bulmer, a 14-year EMT veteran, is no stranger to out-of-hospital birth deliveries. In fact, the Stork Pin was the seventh one he has received in his career.

“Receiving the award has been great,” Bulmer said. “I have been doing this for 14 years, and I guess I was in the right place at the right time.”

For Reilly-Rosa, on the other hand, it was her first pin, despite previous experience in assisting in emergency births.

“It’s nice to be recognized," she said.

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