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911 Operators Meet Babies They Helped Deliver

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By RAY REYES and CHRIS COYNER

The Tampa Tribune and News Channel 8

Published: August 7, 2008

TAMPA - Two Hillsborough County 911 operators who coached mothers giving birth over the telephone got a chance Thursday to meet and hold the babies they helped bring into the world.

"I was just so glad they have a healthy baby," operator Hattie Strickland said of Sheila and Dave Garcia.

Taylor Dalton Garcia was born on July 5, minutes after Sheila Garcia went into labor and was getting ready to go to the hospital. Garcia gave birth on the bathroom floor. Dave Garcia called 911 and got Strickland on the line.

"A million things could have gone wrong," Strickland said. "But they did everything they were supposed to do. They did really, really good."

Dispatcher Gordon Silver took a call last month from David Perez, whose wife, Susana, was about to give birth to their son, Giovanni Angel Perez.

"It was rough," David Perez said with a laugh when he met Silver on Thursday. "She was shouting, 'I need help!' and I was shouting, 'I need help!'"

Silver said that the new father did all the work: "He was very calm, cool and collected."

Garcia was talking so calmly that Silver couldn't "believe his wife was having a baby."

"All I did was grab his head and pulled him out," Garcia said.

The dispatchers, parents and babies convened in a conference room of the county's central communications center. Gifts were given to the newborns, and a cake baked for the babies was shared by the families and the operators.

Dispatchers usually help deliver an infant about once a month, Hillsborough County Fire rescue officials said.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or rreyes@tampatrib.com.

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