Doctors and nurses at Honokaa’s Hale Hoola Hamakua helped deliver a bouncing baby girl last week — a first for the small rural facility in its current configuration.
The birth was unusual because the hospital does not have an obstetrics unit and does not schedule live births, explained Faith Olivera, director of nursing.
“This is a critical access hospital, and it’s something that since 2005, we’d never had this situation,” she said. “The staff is always educated on things you need to do if a situation arises, but it’s very different when the situation actually arises.”
It was Monday morning, Sept. 8, when Hilo residents Mary Conner and Jonathan Doherty decided they would have to make a detour on their way to see her obstetrician at the Waimea Women’s Clinic.
“Mary knew she was ready to give birth, and she saw the hospital sign on the highway and they came into our emergency department,” Olivera said.
It wasn’t the first time a pregnant woman had come into the ER in labor, she said, but this time the labor was moving along too quickly to allow staff to have her transferred to another facility with an OB unit.
Instead, Dr. Kyle Coker was joined by nurses Joyce Harris, Jonathan Giangrosso and Olivera in delivering the baby.
Lacking some of the equipment that would normally be found in on OB unit, staffers had to improvise. One nurse was charged with keeping a fresh supply of warm blankets coming, since there were no warming units for the newborn.
“He kept warming them up, and when one would get cold, we would switch,” Olivera said.
From the moment the couple came in the door, it took 21 minutes for them to welcome baby Iris at 7:41 a.m. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces and measured 20.75 inches.
It was a relatively quick, “uneventful” delivery, Olivera said — something for which everyone present was grateful.
“It really worked out perfectly,” she said. “Usually, there’s only one RN (Registered Nurse) in the ER at all times, but at the time it was a change of shift so we had one RN going off duty from the night to stay, and one going on duty for the day.”
Shortly after the birth, the couple and their new baby girl were sent to North Hawaii Community Hospital.
It was a relatively quick stop, all things considered, Olivera said, but one which made an impact on Hale Ho‘ola staffers.
“Iris is our baby,” she said with a laugh. “She’s ours. We’ve talked about following up with her every so often, and we want to do something for her first birthday.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.