Sub-zero temps and snowstorms brought Shenandoah, Iowa, to a standstill, but Dr. Chase Brown had an important appointment to make.
Krystal Gardner was due to have her baby and Dr. Brown had only way to get to the hospital.
On January 12, Dr. Brown drove his four-wheeler through a snowstorm and arrived just in time to deliver a baby girl named Birkley.
“We had a baby being delivered this morning at 8am in the middle of a snowstorm. How did Dr. Chase Brown get here for this delivery!?!?! An ATV, of course,” the Shenandoah Medical Center posted on Facebook.
He cleared snow drifts by hitting them at 20 mph.
“Snow went everywhere, went flying in all directions,” Brown said. “But just keep going through to the next one.”
“We knew he was going to get there,” mother Krystal Gardner told local news. She also noted the dedication of the entire medical team, not just Brown. One commenter on the Shenandoah Medical Center Facebook page remarked, “I know at least one of the nurses stayed the night at the hospital so she’d be there for today’s shift.” Their dedication is truly a blessing.
According to the outlet, this is the third delivery Dr. Brown has traveled to on his ATV.
Dr. Brown joked, “Floods, rain, storms. Sure better than taking a horse into town, right?”
Baby Gardner was scheduled to be delivered by cesarean section because of pregnancy complications, which meant that she needed to undergo the procedure that day.
“I knew that it just needed to be done,” father Craig Gardner reflected. “That I’d do whatever it’d take to get her up to the hospital so we could have her.”
“It was just anxiety until we got here and started seeing everybody come in,” added Krystal, “It was just one relief after another relief through the whole morning.”
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The Gardner family, relieved and grateful, returned to the hospital for a checkup recently, where Dr. Brown confirmed baby Birkley’s is “as healthy as can be.”
“She’s a very good baby. We couldn’t ask for more perfection,” Krystal said.
Ironically, Birkley “hates the cold,” Krystal commented. “She doesn’t like to be out of her blanket, out of her swaddle, nothing.”
Dr. Brown is proud to have delivered Birkley and said “no matter what’s coming, we’re there to take care of people.”
“This has been my dream. This is a dream come true for me, to be here in a small town and provide the care we can. And experiences like this is just how I imagined I’d be a doctor one day,” Brown said.
Baby Birkley is happy and healthy today thanks to the dedication of Dr. Brown and the entire medical team at Shenandoah Medical Center. Their story highlights how sacrificing our own conveniences to take care of the most vulnerable is the very best of human nature. When we are moved to help children, we remember the preciousness of every human life. Despite storms, the sanctity of human Life gives the world hope.
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