Suffolk emergency workers really deliver for moms in labor

Four emergency workers who helped safely deliver healthy newborn babies during a span of harrowing calls in January were honored by Suffolk County officials with citations for their service on Thursday as part of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

Regina Gregorwich, a Spanish-speaking emergency complaint operator with the Suffolk County Police Department, received a call at roughly 10:20 p.m. on Jan. 20 from a Spanish-speaking woman in Terryville who was in active labor inside her home, according to county officials.

Translating instructions for the caller, Gregorwich worked with Marlo VanHouten, a dispatcher at Suffolk Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services (FRES), to relay instructions to the woman to help her safely deliver the baby.

After the ceremony in Suffolk police headquarters in Yaphank, VanHouten and Gregorwich spoke to Newsday. When asked how they managed to keep their cool during the tense call — during which there were loud screams in the background from the couple in the house — both women said their training naturally kicked in.

“You just do it. It’s second nature to us,” said Gregorwich, motioning to VanHouten. “If it wasn’t for her, I mean, she’s the one who gave all the instructions.”

Yet VanHouten praised Gregorwich for calmly multitasking between remembering VanHouten’s labor instructions and translating for the family in a dire situation, which saved valuable time.

“I may have been the one to give her the instructions, but it was rapid-fire Spanish translation. So while there was a hysterical Spanish-speaking couple on the other line going through something crazy,” VanHouten said, “from my perspective, listening to the both of them speaking Spanish and they were hysterical, and [Gregorwich] is listening and talking to them, and at the same time listening to me and still retaining everything I’m telling her and giving it all to them … if it wasn’t for her, it would have been a catastrophe.”

The 911 Call Center in Yaphank received more than 900,000 calls in 2021, according to Suffolk County Police Chief Robert Waring.

Anna Stark, a FRES dispatcher, was cited for assisting a caller on Jan. 17 with the delivery of an unconscious baby whose umbilical cord was wrapped around the neck. During the call, Stark relayed CPR instructions to the caller while notifying emergency responders of the situation.

“Her calm demeanor and swift action had a significant effect on the outcome of this call,” said Suffolk County FRES Commissioner Pat Beckley.

Joseph Wixted, also a Suffolk FRES dispatcher, received a citation for his work during a Jan. 28 call in helping a mother in Ridge deliver a baby.

Wixted, a dispatcher of 17 years, told Newsday a friend of the woman called 911 but had apparently departed during labor, which left him to guide the woman alone. Wixted said the woman was “amazing” in how she handled the situation.

When asked what he loved about his job, Wixted said, “We just have fun, and it’s good helping people, too. It’s nice to help people, and absolutely in this case. It’s a great feeling.”