Heroes: 3 inspiring acts of bravery by PSJH nurses

These days, it seems mass violence and cataclysmic natural disaster have become far too common place. It’s unsettling. But what gives me hope are the inspiring accounts of heroism – strangers helping strangers – that have emerged amid the grief.

I am very proud to share three such stories with you. Each are about brave women and men who are part of the Providence St. Joseph Health family. When deadly tragedy struck before their very eyes, they didn’t run away. They jumped directly into the fray, putting their nursing skills into action to save lives.

In honor of Nurses Week, I invite you to take a moment to watch this video, which features these three acts of bravery:

• As concert goers in Las Vegas, two of our nurses – Michelle Cole, R.N., and Shane Cole, R.N. from Providence St. Patrick Hospital in Montana – braved gunfire to triage the wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
• When a train derailed near Dupont, Wash., as she was driving home from the night shift at Providence St. Peter in Olympia, Brandy Wagenblsat, R.N., immediately pulled over to help passengers in the massive wreckage that killed three and injured more than 100 others. 
• In the most destructive wildfire season on record, our caregivers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in Sonoma County, Calif., set aside personal loss to keep our hospital open and serve the community even as they were being evacuated from their own homes. More than 150 of our caregivers lost homes in the fires.

I hope you find this video as moving as I did. Thank you to each of these caregivers for responding to the call of duty so courageously, and to all of the 111,000 caregivers across Providence St. Joseph Health who give of themselves so generously and perform quiet acts of heroism every day.