When Yoel Levy, MS, MPAS, PA-C, an emergency medicine PA with TeamHealth Emergency Services, got a text message at 6 a.m. on October 2, he figured he would be sent to Sunrise. But clinicians from other hospitals had already been pulled to help there. As a result, Southern Hills Hospital & Medical Center—a smaller hospital that is located further away from the strip—was short staffed. Levy was sent there, where 10 patients who had been at the festival were treated.
The patients who came to Southern Hills had comparatively minor injuries, such as lacerations to the skin, sprained ankles, strained shoulders, and general anxiety. Levy stayed at the hospital for about 15 hours, until other clinicians arrived to relieve him.
Coming Together
In the hours after the shooting, Levy and Weiss were most struck to see how many people were looking out for others. “For a place like Las Vegas that you wouldn’t think would have this community, everyone came together,” Levy says.
At Sunrise, for example, staff members from clinicians and administrators to respiratory techs and janitorial services, flowed into the hospital to help that night. Many patients told Weiss he should help someone else because other people needed care more than they did. And for two months after the shooting, people from hospitals across the country sent posters, cards, letters, pictures, and gifts to Sunrise to show their support.
Weiss says that this encouragement has helped him with the healing process. “I take a lot of comfort knowing I trained for a job, I was available when I was needed the most, and I was able to provide some help and some comfort to people,” he says.
Jennifer Walker is a freelance writer in Baltimore, MD. Contact Jennifer at [email protected]
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