Police officers regularly go above and beyond the call of duty. Celeste Ayala’s selfless actions are a great example of that. After a photo of her went viral, the cop has been rewarded tremendously.
She was on duty at Sister Maria Ludovica Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aries, Argentina when a malnourished and crying baby was brought in. The hospital staff was overwhelmed, so Ayala asked if she could hold the hungry baby who was reportedly the youngest of six children brought in by a single mother. Ayala was not concerned with the fact that the baby was “smelly and dirty.” Her maternal instincts kicked in and she began breastfeeding the child. The baby settled down as soon as he began nursing.
Marcos Heredia took a picture of the incredibly kind gesture and posted it on Facebook to publicly acknowledge Ayala.
He wrote “I want to make public this great gesture of love that you made today with that baby, who you did not know, but for whom you did not hesitate to act like a mother. You did not care if he was dirty or smelly… Things like that are not seen every day.”
Ayala didn’t hesitate to help the child as she knew he would have to otherwise wait to be treated.
“I noticed that he was hungry, as he was putting his hand into his mouth, so I asked to hug him and breastfeed him,” Ayala said. “It was a sad moment, it broke my soul seeing him like this, society should be sensitive to the issues affecting children, it cannot keep happening.”
After the photo went viral, Celeste Ayala’s kindness was rewarded with a well-deserved promotion from officer to sergeant.
Cristian Ritondo, the minister of security of Buenos Aires province tweeted, “Today we received Celeste, the officer who breastfed a baby at the # LaPlata Children’s Hospital to notify her of her promotion. We wanted to thank her in person for that gesture of spontaneous love that managed to calm the baby’s cry. The police that make us proud, the police we want.”
Hoy recibimos a Celeste, la oficial que amamantó a un bebé en el Hospital de Niños de #LaPlata para notificarle su ascenso. Queríamos agradecerle en persona ese gesto de amor espontáneo que logró calmar el llanto del bebé. La policía que nos enorgullece, la policía que queremos. pic.twitter.com/8aBp0Xj4Zj
— Cristian Ritondo (@cristianritondo) August 17, 2018
A police officer in the United States would likely be skewered for such a compassionate gesture amid cries of regulation and health issues. But that is not the case in Argentina. It is wonderful to see this selfless act rewarded.
More information is in the video below.
Source: Unilad