"The established processes in the Blood Bank held strong in a situation that tested the limits. Teamwork between our blood bank and sister departments at the other facilities was beyond expectations."
"Many of my team members told me how other patients in the hospital asked to be discharged to make sure the staff could care for the victims."
"When the nurses and physicians needed supplies, we delivered in minutes and in large quantities."
"The nurses were asked if they wanted to continue with the course due to the emotions, ongoing noise and disruption outside of the building.
"Building strong relationships with local community partners, chambers, elected officials and city government is crucial. You just never know when you’ll need these partners on your side."
"Loved ones looking for their brothers, sons, daughters, mothers, sisters, husbands, wives, fathers and best friends displayed sheer panic and desperation in their emails."
"This event was a disruption to our normal day-to-day operations, but not a disruption in how we care for patients."
"We set up an ER refreshment center. And, we brewed and delivered lots of coffee."
"Our teams handled everything from press conferences to requests from politicians, celebrities and the President to donations of money (for patients, their families and our hospital staff), gift cards and food deliveries to visitation requests from everyone you could possibly imagine."
"What we learned was that our role was more than communicating information; it also was providing team members the opportunity to share and communicate with each other."
"It became evident very early on that this event was international in scope and that there was no way my small team of six was going to be able to respond to every inquiry."
"I was given a list with five names – all were victims transported to the trauma center who hadn’t survived their injuries – and I was asked to gather their families."
"I was surprised to receive a response text saying, “Mass shooting early this morning.” At that point, I knew this day would be very different than usual."
"For our department, this incident didn’t just last a few hours, but continued for days, weeks and months."
"I’m so proud of the brave actions taken by our security officers to help the arriving victims, and I’m also very grateful for the support of Orlando’s police department."
"I used to have fear of working in a hospital and seeing blood and horrible wounds, but that night I saw what I saw and kept moving in the midst. I surprised myself."
"It hit me that every single team member who worked for our system lived in our community and would feel devastated by what had happened."
"The hospital operators received high call volume from team members, media and concerned family members looking for information."
"All I could say was, “I am so sorry for your loss.” They could not look at me. We just told them the worst news of their lives and now they have to go out into the world and face the reality of what just happened."
