A police officer had to extend her scope of work when she delivered a baby at the Melkbosstrand police station on Friday morning.
Speaking to Drum about her unusual experience Sergeant Debbie Alard’s explained that a complaint was lodged in when the family of a woman in labour called the station because an ambulance was not coming to them in time. The mom-to-be lived Varkplaas informal settlement and as this is a high risk area, the ambulance could not go in without being escorted by police.
Because of this Debbie suggested that the mother be bought to the police station to make it easier for the ambulance to fetch her and take her to the nearest hospital.
“She arrived at the police station around 9 PM in the evening. She was screaming in pain so I decided to call Christal from the community victim’s support team while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.
“As she was sitting there, I could see that the pains were getting intense. I tried to call the ambulance again but they told me that there are no ambulances available to fetch her. Soon after that her water broke and I knew that I had to do something”, the 45-year-old sergeant said.
At 11:20 PM, Sgt Alard and Christal delivered the baby at the police station and kept the new born warm with the clothes that had been donated by the victim’s support team.
Sgt Alard said that the ambulance only arrived around 2 AM and by then the baby had already been delivered.
The new mother and the baby were taken to Wesfleur Hospital in Atlantis and later released at 8 AM on the same day. The healthy little girl, who was named Dione Debbie Lucas after Sgt Alard weighed 3,7 kg.
Sgt Alard said, “I didn’t expect it, but I was very happy that I could help some else especially who was in that situation and it was my first time, so it was pretty special for me.”
