Reserve Soldiers kick off annual training with special delivery

By Marcy SanchezSeptember 13, 2017

Reserve Soldiers kick off annual training with special delivery
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Lt. Col. Steven Knapp, commander, Troop Command, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, presents a command coin to Maj. Manish Rawat, physician assistant, 7248th Medical Support Unit, 7454th Medical Backfill Battalion, for performance during the unit'... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Reserve Soldiers kick off annual training with special delivery
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (From left) Lt. Col. Steven Knapp, commander, Troop Command, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Maj. Manish Rawat, physician assistant, 7248th Medical Support Unit, 7454th Medical Backfill Battalion, Sgt. Dustin Mcadaragh, respirator technician, 7... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

It was just supposed to be a very simple in-processing day.

August 20, 2017 started off as any normal annual training period would start for reserve-component Soldiers; call for accountability, begin to in-process, and get to work.

On that rainy Sunday morning, the 7248th Medical Support Unit was scheduled to begin their two-week annual training at William Beaumont Army Medical Center beginning at 7:30 a.m. As Soldiers began reporting in early for training, Sgt. Dustin Mcadaragh, the unit's noncommissioned officer in charge, greeted them at a hospital entrance as they ushered to their rally point.

The entrance, where Mcadaragh stood, is located in the hospital's courtyard which is located two floors below and opposite of the emergency room entrance for patients. At 7:25 a.m. Mcadaragh and fellow Soldiers noticed a female patient making her way toward the entrance while screaming in pain.

Soldiers sprang into action and assisted her into the hospital and contacted emergency personnel to help. The Soldiers soon found out why she was in so much pain, she was pregnant and in labor.

"I got on the phone and called the emergency desk to bring a wheelchair," said Mcadaragh, a native of Wagner, South Dakota. "We didn't realize how close she was to delivering so we were focused on getting her where she needed to be."

While not all Soldiers had checked in for training at the time, one of the few that were present included Maj. Manish Rawat, an Army physician assistant who mirrors the occupation off duty.

"As we had just entered the doors the patient said, 'I think I'm having the baby right now," said Rawat, a native of Austin, Texas. "It all happened so quickly."

Mcadaragh, a respiratory specialist, and Rawat found themselves at the forefront of the situation as the patient cried out in pain in the hospital's first floor, just a few feet from the Dining Facility and hospital shoppette.

"She began to have another contraction and leaned into the wall and I started talking to her to try to help and calm her," said Mcadaragh.

The patient informed the Soldiers that she could feel the baby's head crowning and she needed to deliver the baby right there.

Because of the promptness of the situation, with only a minute having passed since the patient had walked through the doors, hospital personnel had not arrived at the scene yet. Mcadaragh and Rawat prepared the patient for delivery.

Rawat, who hadn't delivered since PA school eight or nine years prior, instructed the patient to lay down but the patient refused. Quickly adapting to meet the patient's needs, Rawat, who as a physician assistant has a background in general medicine, began to "catch" the baby as she pushed from a standing position. At 7:27 a.m., only two minutes after the patient had entered the hospital, the baby was delivered safely.

"As a civilian I work at (WBAMC's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), so (Rawat) handed me the baby after delivery," said Mcadaragh. "I got the baby, pinched off the (umbilical) cord and performed normal stimulation to get the baby to cry, then cleaned off the baby at that point."

Working as a team, Soldiers from the unit created a makeshift delivery room by standing around the patient, staff members from the hospital's Nutrition Care Department had clean towels at the ready for the duo to clean mom and baby after the delivery and passerby nurses coming off their night shifts jumped in to help before heading home for the day.

Shortly following the delivery, WBAMC's Pediatric Response Team arrived at the scene to check on the patients and transport them to the hospital's L&D unit.

"It was so quick," said Mcadaragh of the whole scenario. "I handed the baby off to the pediatrician and let them know the situation and baby vitals and they immediately took both mom and baby off."

Following a successful delivery and treatment of the patient, in a humbling admission, Rawat said he and the Soldiers weren't ready for the situation that unraveled before them but are happy that the mother and baby are doing well.

Once the patient was whisked off to WBAMC's L&D unit, the Soldiers went into the bathroom, washed up and began in-processing for their annual training shortly after 7:30 a.m.

"It was just supposed to be a very simple in-processing day," said Rawat.

(Editor's note: WBAMC public affairs attempted to reach out to the patient for comment, but did not receive a response. The patient and the newborn were released from WBAMC after a two-day stay in the Postpartum Unit and are reported to be in good health.)