LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Editor's note: The attached video indicates that 5 people have been released from UofL Hospital. In a Wednesday evening update, the hospital reports 6 people have now been released, and 1 person remains in stable condition.
Staff at University of Louisville Hospital have been working around the clock to save the lives of the victims in Monday's mass shooting.
However, Louisville's gun problem runs deeper than tragedy that left 5 people dead, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Smith caught the nation's attention Tuesday after he spoke up.
During a press conference with several officials, including Gov. Andy Beshear and Mayor Craig Greenberg, Smith called for change.
"There's only so many times you can walk into a room and tell someone they're not coming home tomorrow,” Smith said Tuesday. “To everyone who helps make policy, both at state, city, federal, I would simply ask you to do something because doing nothing, which is what we've been doing, isn't working."
Smith said his passionate plea prompted calls from EMS personnel across the country.
“I got calls from Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Atlanta, Miami, Jacksonville, you name it, you know, we are not special in the fact that gun violence is impacting our cities,” Smith said in a press conference with local media Wednesday afternoon.
He said, sadly, performing surgeries on 3 patients for gunshot wounds in one day didn't even require a change to their operating room schedule.
“If we don't start speaking out about what we're seeing, there's no other way to let the public know what is happening within the trauma centers and the emergency departments around this country,” Smith said.
Monday's mass shooting sent 9 victims to the hospital; 6 patients have been released and 1 patient is in fair condition.
Officer Nickolas Wilt, the 26-year-old rookie officer who ran toward Old National Bank, remains in critical condition after being shot in the head.
Deana Eckert, 57, died at UofL.
“We focus on our failures. And it may or may not be a failure, but it feels like that when you lose someone,” Smith said. “And from our standpoint, what we have to do is focus on the people we were able to save and there were a lot of them.”
Smith says he’s weary after 15 years of hoping for changes that might be able to save people from even having to step foot in the emergency room.
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