SHENANDOAH, Iowa (KMTV) —
- Video shows ... a newborn baby who was born in a snowstorm in Shenandoah, Iowa, and interviews with the family and doctor.
- Krystal Gardner was scheduled for a c-section last Friday. It also turned out to be the day a huge storm struck southwest Iowa.
- Instead of rescheduling, Dr. Chase Brown — and several other members of the medical staff at Shenandoah Medical Center — went to great lengths to keep Gardner's c-section on schedule.
- Brown, who lives in a rural area just outside Shenandoah, realized the roads weren't clear. The only way to make it to the hospital to help with the delivery of Krystal and Craig Gardner's daughter — his "trusty 4-wheeler."
- In a rural hospital, like the Shenandoah Medical Center, physicians like Brown often have to practice more than one specialty. He's an OB/GYN, family physician and director of the emergency department; in an urban area, no doctor would wear that many hats.
- Krystal and Craig Gardner welcomed Birkley Reign. She weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces at birth. Her parents and older siblings are thrilled.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
In Shenandoah, a baby arrived in the middle of a snowstorm and the family doctor jumped on his ATV, so he could drive through the snow and get to the hospital in time. I’m your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel and I met the healthy new baby, who now has a fun origin story.
“She is a good sleeper.”
Krystal Gardner had a c-section scheduled Friday morning and doctors didn’t think it should be rescheduled. So, she and her husband, Craig, arrived on time to the Shenendoah Medical Center.
Doctor, Chase Brown, lives in the country and, when it was time for him to head out, he had a problem. He was snowed in.
Brown: “I knew my only option was to drive my old — I guess it’s not that old — my trusty 4-wheeler to get into work…”
So off he went, through the snow. A hospital staffer snapped this photo of Dr. Brown's ATV in his assigned parking spot.
Brown: “Yeah, it’s my parking spot. Where else am i going to park?”
The c-section went smoothly and soon the Gardners were holding their baby girl, Birkley Reign.
These parents — grateful Dr. Brown braved the storm.
Krystal Gardner: "’Cuz I think that it would have been easy to just stay in bed and say that we're going to reschedule, so we were definitely grateful for everybody."
What's more amazing is that isn't the first time weather tried to slow down the doctor — or even the first time that week.
Earlier that week he got his car stuck on the way to deliver another baby.
Brown: “...And so within about 20 -30 minutes all my neighbors had come. there were two tractors and a skid loader to dig me out.”
It’s the kind of thing that happens in a small town – when your doctor is your neighbor and friend.
Krystal Gardner: “I think it’s rare. I think it’s great for our community but if you go to a bigger city you won’t get that.”
Brown: “It just is never a question — that even if there’s a snowstorm, you know, it’s not just a patient, it’s your neighbor, it’s your friend, it’s your colleague, it’s people that you see all the time.”
Going the extra mile — sometimes literally. Neighbors caring for neighbors.
At the Shenandoah Medical Center, I’m your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel.
