A Byker resident welcomed the safe arrival of her new born baby thanks to the quick thinking action of two members of staff.
RE:GEN’s Liza Hills and Gill Sweeney were doing routine checks on the Byker Estate in Newcastle and visited a property on Raby Street where works had recently been completed on the installation of a brand new bathroom.
The customer was 39 weeks pregnant and her husband alerted Liza and Gill that his wife may have gone into labour.
Gill immediately ran for her car and they both took the customer to the maternity ward at Newcastle’s RVI. Liza sat in the back of the car to support her and keep her calm while Gill was driving but, her contractions were now only 30 seconds apart and they knew they were running out of time.
Thankfully, they managed to get her to hospital safely and within ten minutes of arriving, a healthy baby boy called Nelly, weighing 7lb 3oz was born on Thursday 18 November.
Byker Community Trust (BCT), part of Karbon Homes, appointed RE:GEN Group earlier this year to deliver £1.8m worth of modernisation works to homes on the iconic Grade II* listed estate. The investment works include the installation of new bathrooms with showers, kitchens and internal doors.
Work commenced on phase 1 of works to 366 homes in May and BCT has just announced the delivery programme for phase 2, which will include 133 homes.
Liza Hill, Customer Experience Co-ordinator at RE:GEN Group, said: “Gill and I were doing our routine calls when we were alerted that the customer may have gone into labour. We just had to react and get her to hospital as quickly as we could. She literally had to be carried out of the car when we arrived at the maternity ward and I believe he was born within 10 minutes of us arriving.
“This happened on the Thursday and I only started working for the company on Monday. It was quite an eventful first week in my new job but he’s lovely and I’m just glad we were able to help her get to hospital in time.”
Krystian Szpunar, Investment Programme Manager at BCT, said: “Talk about a contractor going above and beyond their core duties. This is wonderful news and it’s thanks to Liza and Gill’s quick thinking they were able to get her to hospital in time for the baby to arrive otherwise they could have been helping to deliver baby Nelly at home.”