Hearts of L.A. / How the Quake Rocked Our Spirits and Changed Our Lives : BINDING THE WOUNDS : ‘They’re on their way in an ambulance.’

Abbey-Mounedji began the account: The day of the quake, it was business as usual. We hooked up our coffee pot up to the emergency power supply and we went to work. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was really bombarded. All of Olive View Medical Center was evacuated, and they got 17 babies from there and six from other hospitals.

Then all of a sudden the Emergency Room called and said, “Did you know you were getting two patients from Olive View? They’re on their way in an ambulance.”

A few minutes later, this lady on a stretcher arrived with this little note taped to her abdomen that said, “Needs emergency C-section.”

Volland added: Doctors at Olive View were only seconds away from operating on her when a quake jolted the building.

They lost power and there was water everywhere. The ambulance driver and the med-techs had to carry the woman four flights of stairs to an ambulance.

Said Abbey-Mounedji: In the 17 years I’ve been a nurse and the 14 years I’ve worked here at UCLA, this was probably the easiest patient I ever admitted. The intravenous tube was in her, her abdomen was prepped, she already had the catheters in her and her epidural was already in for the anesthesia.

So we just evaluated her baby and took her into the operating room and did a safe C-section on her. She was one lucky lady. Mother, baby and dad were very happy to be in a very safe place.