Kevin Thompson has seen his share of tragedy in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside over the years, and it’s been especially bad in 2018.

“I’ve buried more friends this year than I have in 30 years of being down here because of this fentanyl crisis,” he told CTV News.

On Thursday, however, Thompson and other members of this community that has witnessed so much death in recent years helped bring new life into the world.

Thompson was at work - he's a peer supervisor at Maple Overdose Prevention Site - when he heard someone screaming that there was a woman in labour in the alley outside.

“I went out to see what was going on,” he said. “She was in the corner by a telephone pole and her water had broken and she didn’t know what to do.”

Thompson grabbed some blankets and his coworker Cynthia Bell called 911, but things were moving too fast to wait for the paramedics to arrive.

“The baby's head was already out,” Bell said. “I was just as scared as she was and it was her first baby so i imagine she was pretty terrified.”

As Bell, Thompson, and others helped the mother-to-be to the ground and set up blankets and umbrellas to protect her privacy, a crowd began to gather.

“Everyone was reassuring her, holding her hand, letting her know everything was okay,” Bell said. “Any one of those drug addicts would have stepped up and protected her, calm her down.”

Bell said the baby got stuck, so she had to turn it. She urged the mother to push hard, and soon she was holding a newborn baby girl.

A cheer went up from the assembled crowd when the baby began to cry.

“It is the most amazing thing you’ll ever see,” Thompson said. “[It] was beautiful.”

Crews from BC Emergency Health Services arrived and transported the mother and her newborn child to hospital.

Paramedics attended more than 1,500 maternity calls in 2017, according to BCEHS. Some of those births end up happening before the mothers make it to hospital, the agency said.

Bell said the new mother thanked her for her help before going to hospital.

“After all the deaths and overdoses from the fentanyl crisis, it's nice to see someone giving life,” she said.

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Michele Brunoro