BRACKENFELL – First responder Tarryn Beretta’s Sunday morning bike ride took an unexpected turn when she had to race to assist with a baby delivery on the Bottelary farms.
While cycling through the Bottelary hills, an alert came through on the Sonkring neighbourhood watch’s operational group requesting help for a woman who had just given birth and needed assistance.
While riding her bicycle, she immediately responded.
“It was about 08:10 and I was about 5 km away and there was no ambulance on the scene yet. I had to get moving,” she tells TygerBurger. “I did not have much with me and while I was racing to the scene, I was making plans in my mind for any possible scenario.”
“It was a bit of a mission to find her though, as Google Maps first took me to the wrong location. From there, while cycling, I contacted Law Enforcement and the police to guide me to the correct place. It took me about 25 minutes to get there after eventually getting the correct directions from a woman who came past in her car.
Seeing that little one on the bed, only 45 minutes old, was indescribable
Tarryn and the metro ambulance arrived simultaneously to find the newborn still on the bed with the umbilical cord intact. Two local women had helped the mother through the delivery.
“Seeing that little one on the bed, only 45 minutes old, was indescribable. While the paramedic rushed to cut the cord and deliver the placenta, I took care of the baby. I checked his breathing, put him in a sterile cloth and wrapped him with a blanket – a perfect, healthy little boy, born at 34 weeks.”
Medical kits to farm workers
About two years ago, the police and the CPF handed out medical kits to farm communities, an initiative that faced some resistance at the time, but on that day it truly made a difference when community members could safely deliver the baby with the help of the kits.
Tarryn volunteers as a third “man” over weekends on a private ambulance service, responding to various medical and other emergency calls.
She has completed her level one to three first aid training, as well as the emergency first aid responder training and more recently basic life support for health care providers.
“When a call for help comes in, it is my natural instinct to respond. There is always a way to assist, even if you have no experience, even if you can just keep someone calm until help arrives.”
Admittedly, she has an especially soft spot for the little boy.
“I would love to see him again, but we are taught in training to ‘leave the scene at the scene and not to take it home with us’… I am still deciding.”
