Department Responds To Three Calls From Pregnant Resident
“I’ll be back in 10 minutes,” Stewart Manor resident Lisette Cantara recalled her husband, Michael, saying on Mother’s Day morning last May. But just minutes after Michael left, Lisette, who was in the early stages of her third trimester of pregnancy, started to bleed profusely.
Home alone with the couple’s oldest son – Justin, who is 6 years old – Lisette tried to remain calm. Unfortunately, she had been through this drill before. Plagued with a complicated pregnancy from the beginning, Lisette was diagnosed with placental abruption and had already undergone two emergency trips to the hospital: the first at 26 weeks gestation and the second at 30 weeks. Both times she was admitted for several days.
Placental abruption is an uncommon and serious complication of pregnancy, wherein the placenta peels away from the inner wall of the uterus before delivery, which can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and cause heavy bleeding in the mother, as was the case with Lisette on Mother’s Day morning. Afraid to move because of the amount of blood pouring from her body, Lisette asked her son to hand her the phone and dialed the Stewart Manor Fire Department (SMFD) directly. In the interim, she noticed two local runners passing by her home and told Justin to stop them and ask them to come inside, which they did.
Just minutes later, SMFD Chief Jeff Hammond – who responded to Lisette’s emergency call all three times – and members of the department arrived at her home.
“They came so fast,” Lisette said.
“They were awesome,” Michael said. “Everybody was so calm.” Michael, who had returned home with the couple’s three-year-old son Anthony, said he didn’t want to traumatize the kids. “I had two minutes to prepare the kids that Mommy was going to go to the hospital and [told them], ‘These are good guys,’” he recalled saying. Michael traveled to Winthrop University Hospital in the ambulance with Lisette, leaving the boys home with the two women Justin had flagged down, until Michael’s parents arrived. “Thank God we have great neighbors,” Michael said.
Indeed, remaining calm was key for all who were involved. “You just learn after a while, the more calm you are, the more calm [the patients will be],” Hammond said.
Lisette’s third emergency run to the hospital landed her there until after the couple’s third son, Matthew, was born on June 22, weighing a very healthy 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Matthew was born at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, where Lisette was transferred after spending several weeks in Winthrop. Lisette’s doctors are affiliated with Mercy.
“I missed the entire spring!” Lisette said. “When I left there were no flowers. When I came home, everything was blooming.”
Hammond, who has five children of his own, was left wondering and hoping for a happy outcome for the Cantara family. To see Lisette show up at the fire house after Matthew was born was a huge relief.
“I came by with the baby, and I made a gift basket for them,” Lisette said. She filled the basket with coffee and other goodies, including a mug for Hammond that boasts several pictures of baby Matthew. Lisette and Michael are very grateful to the SMFD. Lisette also plans to visit the maternity units “to thank the nurses at Mercy and at Winthrop that took care of me,” she said.
While the Cantaras are so grateful for the SMFD, both hospitals and their neighbors, Chief Hammond credits the Nassau County Emergency Medical Services Academy in East Meadow. “The Nassau County EMS Academy trains these guys so good,” Hammond said.
Training for emergency medical technician training is intense. It starts in September and runs through March. Trainees are required to attend three-hour classes two nights a week, according to SMFD Captain Tom Skinner. “It’s a lot of time, it’s a lot of dedication,” Skinner said.
Looking at baby Matthew, all would agree that it’s worth the effort. “He’s doing really well. He’s alert; he smiles. He’s a good baby,” Lisette gushed.
“It was a happy ending,” Lisette said.
“Absolutely,” Hammond said.
