Rookie RCMP officer helps deliver baby in B.C. hospital parking lot
A rookie cop attended a different type of emergency Monday after running toward the sound of screaming in a parking lot.
Const. Sise Odaa, with the Chilliwack, B.C., RCMP, was at the Chilliwack General Hospital for an unrelated report when she heard the yelling.
Odaa, who just joined the detachment six months ago, rushed outside to help, the Upper Fraser Valley Regional Detachment said in a news release Thursday.
What she found was Chilliwack woman Chayne Den Ouden in labour.
“When we got to the parking lot my mom asked if I needed a wheelchair but I said, 'No I’m good,'” Den Ouden told CTV News.
“But then I walked maybe 20 feet and had another contraction was hunched over."
As Den Ouden’s mom went to get the wheelchair, chaos ensued.
“I realized, 'Oh no, the baby's coming,'” she said.
“So I reached down and started grabbing her. Meanwhile a man was walking by and said, 'Are you OK?' I said, 'No I'm having a baby!'"
Odaa heard the commotion, and jumped into action.
"She heard the yelling and thought, 'OK there's something going on so I better go assist,'” Den Ouden said.
Little Sahara Acacia Den Ouden did not wait for her mom to get inside the hospital.
"When she got there, there was my mom catching Sahara, and she was there to support us and help us with what we needed, it was pretty special."
Den Ouden and Sahara were quickly taken into the hospital. She says they’re now home, healthy and happy.
Odaa called it an "amazing experience," and said in a statement that she joined the RCMP to help people.
"(I'm) so happy that I was able to help in this very special way."
Sahara Acacia Den Ouden is shown in a photo provided by her family to CTV News.
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