Local dispatcher honored for helping deliver baby

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -

An Eau Claire dispatcher received a stork pin for her efforts helping a man deliver his grandson over the phone.

Danielle Wik helped Craig Menne guide his daughter, Raychel Bowman, through labor April 19 when she delivered her son, Cooper.

“My new grandson decided to make a surprise visit,” Menne said.

When she got the call, Wik said Menne told her the baby was crowning, meaning he could see the head.

“I just made sure that they were safe, that she was lying down,” Wik said. “A lot of times the babies come very fast. So I didn’t want the baby to come out and, you know, you know don’t want him to drop the baby or whatever.”

Despite being a respiratory therapist and an ECMO specialist at the University of Minnesota Hospital, Menne said he would not have been able to deliver his grandson without a helpful voice on the phone guiding him through the delivery.

“Without that composure she had, I definitely probably could have easily not been as calm,” he said.

Wik said all she did was follow her training.

“It’s my job,” she said. “That’s what I come here everyday to do. I like to provide professional support and get them the help that they need right away.”

Though she’s proud of her award, Wik said it wouldn’t have been possible without help from fellow dispatchers who worked with her on the call, allowing her to focus on guiding Menne through the delivery.

Menne said both Raychel and Cooper are doing great.

The Eau Claire Communication Center’s Director, Dena Clark, said the stork pin is given out to dispatchers throughout the country to honor them after they help deliver a baby over the phone. Wik is the first Eau Claire dispatcher to receive one since the Communication’s Center started giving them out.

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