Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH WEBSTER - The call regarding a woman in hard labor was dispatched to the North Webster ambulance station at 3:22 a.m. Feb. 5
Twenty-seven minutes later, at 3:49 a.m., Hanna Rena Winch was born to Rena Lynn and James Allen Winch in a fast delivery conducted in the back of the emergency vehicle.
Birth of the Winches' bundle of joy is the first such occurrence for the 25-year-old department.
"I had been to the doctor's office on Thursday and was admitted to the hospital for seven hours," Winch said. "Then they sent me back home. I knew I was in labor."
Having given birth to three boys before Hanna, the process was no mystery to Winch.
Ken Strong was the paramedic on duty that Friday morning along with his EMT partner, Alyssa Schmucker.
Strong, who has been a paramedic for four years and was a firefighter paramedic in Indianapolis, had attended two other emergency births. The unmarried 26-year-old had never actually delivered a baby before, though.
"The call came at the end of a very busy day for us," Strong said. "The birth went real smooth. Alyssa and I were in back and it couldn't have gone any smoother than that.
"This is definitely a highlight of my career," he said.
Schmucker, an eight-year veteran of the North Webster ambulance staff, said Winch was waiting at the front door of her home when the ambulance arrived.
North Webster police officer Darrell Sopher arrived on the scene and put the expectant father and the three boys in his squad car.
With lights running and sirens blaring, the ambulance and squad car headed toward Kosciusko Community Hospital.
Winch's water broke at Old U.S. 30. About the time the ambulance turned onto new U.S. 30, Hanna Rena was born.
Paramedic Mike Oberg had stopped by the station that evening, and he offered to drive the ambulance to Warsaw.
Strong and Schmucker accuse him of poking along so the birth could occur in the back of the ambulance, a charge Oberg denies. He swears he was going 65 miles per hour.
Jim Winch learned his latest child was a girl over the squad car radio.
She weighed in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 20-1/2 inches.
Four weeks later, she's put on weight and acts as if her unusual place of birth is no big deal.
"We've had babies born just before we've arrived at the home and right after we arrived at the hospital," the EMT said. "Ken and I had been up all night, so we were awake and alert. Hanna was a good ending to a very long shift.
"We've kind of become like family. We visited as partners so we could see her. We took her an outfit and they sent us a nice bunch of flowers."
The partners proudly wear the coveted stork pins earned by medics who attend a birth.
"The department is still excited about Hanna, and maybe a little jealous, too, I think," Strong said. "It is wonderful when a new life comes into the world."
