By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - When Ramona Payne of Niles arrived at work on Tuesday morning, she never expected to have the day she did.
Payne, an employee at the Michiana Mini Mart, located at the intersection of State Line Road and South 11th Street, arrived for her shift at 6:30 a.m. and began to get ready for her busy day.
She had just helped her first customer of the day when, at about 7:15 a.m., a young man ran into the store asking for towels or anything he could use to wrap his baby in.
The young man then came running back in and told Payne the baby was not breathing. That's when Payne sprang into action.
Payne knew she had to get the baby up on the mother's chest to get it warm and had to tie off the umbilical cord.
Payne then set to work cleaning mucus out of the baby's nose and mouth, which was obstructing its airway.
Payne said the law enforcement officers and paramedics who responded to the scene kept encouraging her to keep doing what she was doing, because it was the right thing.
Payne unfortunately doesn't even know the names of the recipients of her good deed.
Officials from the Clay Township Fire Department confirmed units from that department responded to the scene and transported the mother and child to Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Ind. However, because of privacy laws, would not release names.
The official did say he thought the mother and child were “fine.”