West Newton family thanks local dispatcher for emergency ‘delivery’

By Paul Peirce

Trib Total Media News Wire Services

Russ Mitchell said Wednesday that he was not looking forward to listening to 18 minutes of the “most stressful time in my life” delivering his 6-pound, 2-ounce daughter on April 27 along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Penn Township.

Mitchell, of West Newton, said he was eager to meet the Westmoreland County dispatcher Jonathan Caccia, who guided him through “that crazy night” when he helped his wife, Dawn, deliver Emmi in the front passenger seat of a 2016 Jeep Cherokee. The baby was delivered in a pull-off area near the Harrison City maintenance shed.

“Don’t get me wrong, I really wanted to meet Jonathan and thank him for all he did. But that was just so stressful and having to relive all that I wasn’t too sure, but Dawn wanted to listen to the tape,” Mitchell said.

Caccia, an 11-year-veteran dispatcher, was awarded with a commendation by public safety director Roland “Bud” Mertz, plus a pink stork pin when he met the family at the dispatch center.

“It was pretty awesome seeing Jonathan hold Emmi when they met, and the whole room here glowed. Jonathan brought along the two youngest of his three children to meet the Mitchell family so it was a lot of fun,” Mertz said.

Emmi was dressed for the occasion in a colorful onesie with the “63.4” milepost emblazoned across her top.

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