Cork paramedics use Google Translate while delivering Congolese baby by roadside

Quick thinking on the paramedics’ behalf made this difficult task a bit easier.

It’s not often you hear of someone translating Swahili into English on the side of the road between Macroom and Lissarda while on their way to a hospital, but that’s exactly what happened to two paramedics earlier this week.

According to The Corkman, the two paramedics in question, Gerry McCann and Shane Mulcahy, were taking a Congolese woman to the Cork University Maternity Hospital on Monday morning when her baby decided it was time.

So the lads pulled over to the side of the road in order to deliver the baby, but the woman spoke limited English.

That’s when Gerry had a lightbulb moment and opened up Google Translate on his phone in order to communicate with the woman.

Speaking to The Corkman, Gerry said: “It’s something that I think I won’t ever forget as I was translating Swahili into English somewhere on the side of the road between Macroom and Lissarda."

The regional paper reports that the “beautiful baby girl was born at 6.23am."

Pic via National Ambulance Service - Facebook