A newborn baby girl was named after a Louisiana nursing home after the facility’s parking lot was transformed into an impromptu delivery room for the mother, who unexpectedly went into labor while visiting a friend.
“The CNAs, LPNs, nurses, all of them came together,” mother Agnes Bradford said. “Valley View did it. Their workers did it.”
Bradford visited a friend at the Valley View Health Care Facility, a 100-bed skilled nursing facility in Marksville, LA, just days before her scheduled March 1 delivery. She wasn’t feeling well on the drive there and when she arrived at the facility, her friend immediately knew she was in labor.
Staff members at the nursing home were quickly alerted to a visitor who was having a baby at the entrance and immediately jumped into action, creating a makeshift privacy curtain and helping deliver the baby until emergency services arrived.
Shontel Juneau, a licensed practical nurse, was the first to reach Bradford. “The baby was coming whether we were ready or not,” she said.
“It was definitely an unexpected event, especially out of the norm for our day-to-day occurrences in long-term care,” Juneau recently said in a statement to McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
Valley View Director of Nursing Amy Dibble, RN, said she and two others were able to “catch” the baby after she officially made her entrance. She added that the entire staff pulled together to maintain Bradford’s privacy and offer comfort during the entire process.
“I’m so thankful for a successful outcome for both mom and baby and to have been part of the miracle of life. It was quite a frantic and different experience for us all, but very humbling to be able to assist a member of the community in need,” Dibble told McKnight’s. “I am so proud of our staff, who demonstrated professionalism, caring and compassion in this unexpected situation.”
“I wholeheartedly congratulate our entire staff on managing such an unplanned emergent situation and the bravery each person displayed at this difficult time,” added Jeffrey Caubarreaux, the facility’s administrator.
EMS arrived shortly after the delivery and transported Bradford and her daughter to a local hospital. Staff said they were grateful that both the mother and baby were doing well after the event.
Bradford later decided to name her daughter Ariana Valley as a thank you to the facility and its workers. She told local media the family plans to call her “Baby Valley.”
“In our line of work, we are often called to assist with the end stages of life,” Juneau said. “On this special day, we were blessed to be able to experience and assist with the beginning of a new life.”
