A BARNSLEY Hospital switchboard worker saved a week-old baby’s life earlier this year after remembering everything she had learned during her three decades working in the town’s hospitals.
Monica Owen, 60, works as a Telecommunications Operator for the hospital’s Contact Centre but prior to this worked on the wards at Kendray Hospital for ten years and has been at Barnsley Hospital for almost 22 years,
In May, Monica was on a shift in the early evening in the Contact Centre when a colleague from front reception alerted her to an emergency situation.
Monica said: “He said that a mum was outside with her baby and that the baby wasn’t breathing.
“I just dropped everything and ran out I just knew that there was a baby who needed me and I went onto auto-pilot.
“The young mum was there with her baby in a rocker on the floor. It was clear that the baby was not breathing!
“I’d worked on various hospital wards for some years including gynae and children’s and had done healthcare assistant qualifications so I recognised something was very wrong. The baby was limp and had a yellow tinge to his face so I thought: ‘jaundice’. That’s a condition where babies can become drowsy and forget to feed so they quickly deteriorate.
“I wiggled his ear as babies usually respond to this but there was nothing. I unclipped him from the rocker, reassured his mum, and started baby massage to stimulate his heart. He was only seven days old.
“I had him on my knee and had been massaging his chest and heart for a few minutes when he let out a loud cry which is exactly what I wanted to hear. The next thing I knew, our crash team came around the corner The team gave me a big hug, said ‘well done,’ and baby was taken to A&E resus.
“I just gave the mum a big hug and went back to work.
“I found out later that the baby had been put on light therapy. He was in hospital for five days and was then able to go home.”
Monica was later nominated for a hospital ‘Brilliant’ award for going above and beyond and has now been nominated in the Proud of Barnsley Awards’ Hospital Hero category.
Monica has worked at the hospital since 2003. Her husband Paul, a hospital porter, works there too along with Monica’s daughter who is a staff nurse.
“Coming to work has been my pleasure and I am still passionate about it. I loved working on the wards very much and I am just grateful that I had the knowledge to do what I did.”
It’s not the first time that Barnsley born and bred Monica has stepped in in an emergency.
“Someone came into the hospital saying that someone was giving birth in the car park. I ran out and opened the car door and the baby literally came out in my hands.
“I like to help where I can and it’s rewarding to be able to use the skills I have learned over the years.”
