Las Vegas-area hospitals pause to remember tragedy that engulfed them
Staff hung their heads and recited a prayer at Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus on Monday morning.
Then chaplains shook hands and hugged Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center staff, as PJ, a 2-year-old golden retriever trained as a therapy pup, offered his services.
Hospitals around the Las Vegas Valley stopped to take note Monday of the anniversary of the mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, which left 58 concertgoers dead and more than 800 others wounded.
“There’s a feeling in the air, but it’s kind of a good feeling; it’s hope,” emergency nurse Deena Lakes said as she stroked PJ’s head Monday morning. Her colleague, Daniel Bumagat, also an ER nurse, agreed.
“Everyone’s moving forward,” he said.
Even so, hospital staff handed out mini tissue boxes to anyone in need.
Renae Huening, a trauma nurse at Sunrise, hasn’t spent much time talking about response to the shooting, she said. But one year later, she was proud of the way staff have held their heads high.
“I think for me it’s kind of mixed emotions,” she said. “It’s good to be able to still be there for my coworkers and survivors and everyone else.”
For Lakes, meeting PJ was the icing on the cake on a day many described as emotional.
When Steve Lodesky, a chaplain at Sunrise Hospital, rounds the halls with a therapy dog, all eyes are off him, he said.
“It’s all about the dogs,” he said. “Wherever the dogs go, it’s all about them. Everything stops.”
He said having dogs around the hospital was especially helpful in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
“When you don’t know what to say and what to do … these dogs, they cut through it all,” he said.
At St. Rose in Henderson, staff read the names of each of the 58 victims and unveiled a metal sculpture with 58 candle-like lights, which will reside temporarily in the hospital’s lobby until a permanent home is found.
Each of the hospital’s three campuses will have the same installation.
Sister Katie McGrail, vice president of mission integration, said the memorial is in accordance with hospital’s Christian tradition.
“As Christians, we speak of the light of life as a sign of Christ bringing light into the world and bringing light into all of us,” she said.
She offered a prayer at the event in honor of those who died, those who were wounded, and the physicians, nurses and caregivers who helped the shooting’s victims.
“Restore our hope for the future,” McGrail said. “Repair our communities. Revive our sense of safety. Deepen our caring and compassion.”
Contact Jessie Bekker at jbekker@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @jessiebekks on Twitter. #1October anniversary
Daylong hospital commemorations
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center hosted a breakfast for its staff early Monday morning to thank them for their hard work one year ago. Many staff wore shirts bearing the "Vegas Strong" phrase in commemoration of the shooting.
At Sunrise, Southern Hills and St. Rose Dominican, staff planned to observe a moment of silence after 10 p.m. Monday, the time the shooting occurred last year.
Dignity Health-St. Rose staff were given orange heart pins with "10.1" printed in the center.
Valley Health System hospitals planned to accept a quilt donation Monday and planned a balloon release for the evening, according to a spokeswoman.
And University Medical Center held a "Stop the Bleed" training class for the public Monday morning. UMC also partnered with Vitalant for a blood drive at the Las Vegas Convention Center and in their hospital parking lot.
