Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Last of mass shooting victims discharged from local hospitals

Fowler

John Locher / AP

Las Vegas shooting victim Kurt Fowler embraces his 10-year-old daughter Timori Fowler during a country music performance at Sunrise Hospital, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017, in Las Vegas. Kurt Fowler was shot in the mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas.

Local hospitals saw more than 600 patients tied to the Las Vegas mass shooting since Oct. 1, with the last victim in care locally leaving St. Rose Dominican Hospital over the weekend.

Sunrise Health System saw 219 patients (among Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, MountainView Hospital and Southern Hills Hospital), Valley Health System (six locations) 216 patients, University Medical Center 104 patients and Dignity Health-St. Rose saw 86 patients between its three hospitals.

Alan Keesee, chief operating officer of Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, said seeing each patient leave the hospital was a momentous occasion each its own, leading up to its final patient being discharged Friday.

“Seeing the patients leave the hospital was emotional,” Keesee said. “We had a sense of pride knowing that our team made a difference and helped to save so many lives that night. Vegas Strong and Sunrise Strong were our rallying cries as we said goodbye to the patients that we were blessed to care for that night and the days that followed.”

Click to enlarge photo

Sunrise Hospital COO Alan Keesee

Sunrise staff saw 212 patients from the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, with a small army of staff responsible for caring for the victims.

“Our amazing team members and physicians rallied to care for these victims with compassion and courage,” Keesee said. “More 100 physicians and 200 hospital employees responded that night, and a mass casualty-triage system was utilized to provide care locations targeted to injury severity.”

Of the 212 patients at Sunrise, 124 of them were treated for gunshot wounds, Keesee said.

Striving for coordination within the team and having compassion for each victim were essential to dealing with such an influx of patients. After handling the stressful situation to the best of their ability, Keesee said the staff is tighter-knit than ever before.

“This event has solidified our conviction as an organization in our mission statement: together, we are a community dedicated to healing,” he said. “We are Sunrise strong.”