Meredith LeBlanc recalls the pivotal moment when she was deciding between two career paths. “I was working in insurance, and I was a paramedic,” she said. “I had two checks in my hand: one with a large amount and one with a small amount, and I realized they’re just paper and ink.”
Over the last 13 years, LeBlanc has applied her passion to make a difference in her role as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher, now serving with East Baton Rouge EMS (Louisiana, USA).
Recently, LeBlanc had an experience reaffirming the difference one call can make, so she sent the recording on to her Supervisor and QA/QI Coordinator, Jeremy Torres, for review.
“It sounded like a fairly typical OB call,” he said. “Then within a few minutes, I heard the patient say, ‘I think my water just broke,’ and almost simultaneously the caller said, ‘The baby is out.’”
For the expectant mother and LeBlanc, who was guiding the caller through the delivery instructions, things had evolved rather quickly. “She had only been in labor about an hour, and the young woman calling first vaguely reported that the full-term patient ‘couldn’t get up,’” LeBlanc said.
Hearing the patient’s identifiable agony in the background, LeBlanc recognized the intensifying labor and wisely added a fire truck to the response, though no one could have predicted the incredible pace of the birth.
Listening to the call with growing attention, Torres waited for the baby’s cry. “Two seconds turn into three, four, and on,” he said. “The silence was deafening.”
LeBlanc followed both her instincts and the protocol by asking, “Is the baby breathing?” When the caller said “No,” LeBlanc followed the protocol pathway to Panel F “Check Baby’s Breathing/Airway,” giving instructions to “gently wipe the baby’s mouth and nose, then vigorously dry the baby with a clean, dry towel” to stimulate that awaited breath.
“I tried not to let the caller hear my anxiety,” LeBlanc said. “But my heart was in my toes when I didn’t hear that baby cry.”
The caller understood the urgency and focused on completing every instruction. Calmly, she worked on the child while LeBlanc provided mouth-to-mouth instructions. Though it felt like two years, within a minute, the infant’s cry brought both chills and relief.
As paramedics arrived, LeBlanc didn’t disconnect the 7-minute, 44-second call until she had a chance to offer congratulations and jokingly suggest they name the little boy after her.
Torres couldn’t be prouder of LeBlanc’s professional and personal investment. “Somehow she kept her even demeanor while focusing on two patients, one who was not breathing,” he said. “This would take any EMD back a bit, but she just kept going.”
LeBlanc’s suggestion to have Torres review her call demonstrates her desire to continually improve upon the service she provides. Though she questioned whether she could have done anything else for the patient, the call evolved so quickly that she had to focus on getting the child breathing.
Moments like these confirm LeBlanc’s calling as an EMD. She envisions her role as being the patient’s ears while responders at the scene lend their hands, working in tandem in the capacity of life.
Part of the success of that team is the preparation and training LeBlanc routinely exemplifies. “Don’t let your first time be your first time in emergencies,” Torres said. “You are going to sink to your level of training.”
As East Baton Rouge EMS had only recently implemented the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ in December 2022, LeBlanc’s call was the center’s first MPDS®-guided stork delivery.
Regardless of that honor, LeBlanc says this experience will resonate with her. “So often our jobs are pertaining to life taken or fading,” she said. “This was an instance of life given, and that renews hope.”
