Ambos recall ‘special’ trip

On September 19, 2001, two ambulance officers from the Harvey St John sub-centre were tasked to transport a pregnant patient from Harvey to Perth to give birth.

An unexpected circumstance meant the pair did not quite make it to the hospital on time, and instead delivered the twins in the back of the ambulance.

Eighteen years later ambulance officers Sarah Vivian and Sue Beech met with the twins Josiah and Deklan Jenks-McGowan to celebrate their milestone birthday.

“I remember the day so clearly,” Ms Vivian said.

“I was driving the ambulance and Sue was delivering the twins.

“There was no pending delivery, when Lisa (mum Lisa Jenks-Robson) got into the ambulance at eight weeks premature it was more of a precautionary measure to get her to King Edward Memorial Hospital on time.”

The older of the two boys, Josiah, was born on the side of the freeway near Cockburn Central, and the younger, Deklan, was born at the bottom of Government House as the ambulance was travelling on Hay Street.

“It’s every officer’s dream to deliver a baby,” Ms Vivian said.

“Of course we enjoy saving lives, that’s a buzz and you feel like you’ve done something important when you do, but delivering a baby is just on another level. It doesn’t happen every day.”

Having never delivered a baby, Ms Beech said it was a very experience.

“I had two boys of my own, but had never delivered a baby before,” Ms Beech said.

“It was absolutely amazing.

“To be able to bring life into this world, it was such a great feeling.”

Josiah is now in his final weeks of Year 12, while Deklan recently completed a media and tech course at TAFE in Karratha.

The twins celebrated their birthday at the weekend with a bonfire in Australind which Ms Vivian attended.

“Delivering those boys was a pretty special moment, and the fact that we can keep that ongoing connection is really lovely and quite rare,” Ms Vivian said.