Sponsored Institutions - Stories

By Sister Phyllis Sikora, OP
Service Area Vice President, Mission Integration & Spiritual Care

October 17, 2018, Henderson, Nevada – On October 1, we here at Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Hospital commemorated a tragic shooting on the night of October 1, 2017, that left 58 dead and more than 500 injured. Our hospital treated and discharged 100 patients free of charge. 

This year, we held a Remembrance Ceremony for the victims, survivors, first responders, and staff who were affected that night and throughout the following months, when we continued to care for victims in our hospitals. 

We began the service with a welcome by our three Presidents and CEOs: Teressa Conley of the Rose de Lima Campus; Eugene Bassett of the Siena Campus; and Lawrence Barnard of the San Martin Campus. The assembly was led in prayer by our Vice Presidents of Mission: Sister Phyllis Sikora, OP, Rose de Lima and San Martin Campuses and Sister Kathleen McGrail, OP, Siena Campus.  

Following the Scripture reading and reflection, the names of the 58 victims were read and a light display was blessed and lit in their honor. The displays will remain in our lobbies throughout October to remind us of the light that shines in our midst and of the lights of those whose lives were taken on October 1, 2017. At the end of October the Light Displays will be transferred to a permanent home within the hospitals.

The services provided our staff and community an opportunity to come together in our pain, loss, and grief and to support each other. We reminded one another that God was with us on October 1 last year, is with us now, and will be in the future as we continue to adjust to the loss in our families and community.

We here in the Mission Integration Department reminded our staff of our responsibility as Christians to hold each other up in faith and hope and to support each other in our grief and loss.  We encouraged each other to continue to support one another and be the hands and arms of God, who comforts us in all or our hard and challenging times.

Remembrance Lights, on display at the Siena Campus of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, accompany the Dominican mural in the hospital lobby. The display honors the 58 people killed in the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooting.