FD native braves icy roads, saves preemie

Neonatal doc, colleague travel when ambulance won’t to reach mom, baby

By SARAH GENGLER, Messenger staff writer and The Associated Press
Fort Dodge native Dr. John Dagle and a University Hospitals colleague traveled 51 miles through ice and snow to help a baby born three months prematurely in Mount Pleasant.

Although the feat drew national attention, Dagle, a 1980 graduate of St. Edmond High School, downplayed his role in the baby’s rescue.

The infant’s mother, Janel Orgovanyi, 38, of Fairfield, went to the Henry County Health Center late Monday after experiencing pain. At 6:10 a.m. Tuesday, she delivered her daughter, Dorotea, who was born at 26 weeks gestation and weighed 2 pounds.

Hospital staff had to manually pump air into the infant’s lungs to help her breath and kept her warm. Then they notified doctors at University Hospitals in Iowa City, more than 50 miles away.

Little Dorotea needed to go to a larger hospital that specialized in the care of premature infants. Even though the weather was treacherous, Dagle and Dr. Michael Acarregui, another neonatalogist from the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, decided to make the trip that a helicopter couldn’t fly and an ambulance wouldn’t drive because of the icy roads.

Dagle — the son of of retired Fort Dodge physician Dr. Charles Dagle— and Acarregui drove Acarregui’s all-wheel drive Audi south for about an hour before they were able to reach the newborn.

‘‘It was more icy than slushy,’’ Dagle said. ‘‘I don’t think it was as bad as everyone thought.’’

Thinking that, the two doctors never hesitated on their drive.

‘‘We’re from Iowa,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re used to driving in bad weather.’’

On the way back to Iowa City, the doctors used a hand-held ventilator to push air into the infant’s lungs. They also gave her surfactant to help her breath easier and treated her umbilical cord.

‘‘When we got there, she was very sick,’’ Dagle said. ‘‘She had a waste-gas level, or carbon monoxide, that was very high.’’

Medication was immediately given to Dorotea because premature babies have problems with their lungs when they are born and need help to dispose of waste gases.

‘‘She is now in critical condition,’’ he said. ‘‘All premature babies have issues so it’s just one day at a time.’’

Henry County was instrumental in saving the girl’s life while waiting to transport her to University Hospitals because a respiratory specialist there was able to help Dorotea receive oxygen safely while they waited for the arrival of Dagle and Acarregui to help ventilate her.

Using what a small community hospital has, the ambulance driver took apart a warming bed and reassembled it to better warm the preemie on the way to Iowa City.

‘‘Normally we would transport a premature baby in a transport isolate, but they didn’t have one,’’ Dagle said. ‘‘The warmer worked, and the baby got to the neonatal unit at a perfect temperature when normally it is very hard to keep premature babies warm.’’

Dorotea is receiving care not only from doctors, but also a well-trained team of physicians, nurses, lab technicians, nutritionists and more to ensure that she remains stable.

‘‘It’s kind of our worst nightmare, to be honest — to have a baby that needs our help, and we aren’t able to get there,’’ Dagle said.’’ There are a lot of things that can wait, but Dorotea’s problems couldn’t wait. With the help of the doctors at Henry County we were able to avoid a lot of problems.’’

Before the doctors left for Iowa City, Dorotea’s mother was allowed to hold her daughter.

‘‘She’s about as long as a Barbie doll,’’ Janel Orgovanyi said. ‘‘She’s just tiny.’’

She expressed gratitude to the doctors who traveled in the storm to help her baby.

‘‘To see the doctors show up out of the blue, it was such a relief,’’ Orgovanyi said.

Dagle and his colleague made national news for their part in the efforts to save the baby’s life. ABC network news and a media outlet from Los Angeles, Calif., both broadcast the story.

Dagle is a 1980 graduate of Creighton University, Omaha, Neb., and the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City. His parents, Charles and Margaret Dagle, and sister Mary Sherman are Fort Dodge residents.



Contact Sarah Gengler at (515) 573-2141 or sgengler@messengernews.net