A healthy baby about 18 months old arrived at Utah Valley’s Emergency Department with a surprising problem — the baby’s finger had gotten stuck in a tiny hole in the grate of a shower drain. The baby’s father had called the fire department for help and had unscrewed the cover from the bathtub drain, but the metal grate wouldn’t budge from the baby’s finger. The family headed to the ED where they got help from an unexpected source: the hospital’s facilities team.
Richard and Robert with their tools
Richard White and Robert Daniels from the Utah Valley facilities team were alerted to bring their tools to the ED to help with the extraction. Richard, the facilities supervisor, and Robert, a plumber, brought in their full tool cart and parked it in the ED hallway outside the patient’s room.
“The baby seemed content while being held in his father’s arms, but his finger was swelling from the lack of circulation,” says Richard. “The grate looked like a waffle with all these tiny holes and the finger was completely stuck.”
Michael Osborn, MD, an affiliated emergency medicine physician, assessed the situation and worked to remove the drain cover along with Nicole Tedrow, RN. They periodically came out of the room to ask for different tools. A few times Richard says he had to run back to the tool shop for a more powerful cutter.
“This grate was stainless steel, which is hard to cut through,” he says. “We ended up having to go into our key shop for a bolt cutter, which is strong enough to cut chains and padlocks. We also gave them a ring cutter. They had to do some precision cutting and use plyers to get it completely off. This was not easy.”
Nicole says, “These guys were great and we really appreciated their guidance. We didn’t have the tools we needed in the ED to remove it without their help. They came down so fast and stayed outside the room until we were completely finished and the baby’s finger was free.”
“The ER staff did an amazing job,” Richard says. “What impressed me the most is they kept the baby so calm, and it’s finger didn’t have a scratch afterward. It was a joint effort by all of us.”
He adds, “As part of engineering we don’t normally work up close with patients, but we’re more than happy to help anywhere the hospital needs us. We’ve seen so much of that teamwork during COVID-19 with the redeployments. I think it’s brought more unity throughout the campus.”