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Press Conference at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 11, 2016 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[14:30:00] DR. TODD MINSHALL, CHIEF OF SURGICAL CRITICAL CARE, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: I got a lot of recovery on Saturday, taking care of all the trauma patients in the emergency general surgery patients, it kind of gave me an opportunity to focus on the things that I do well and not necessarily have to think about the families that are missing people and the other people in the police department that have lost colleagues and friends as well.

So that has given me an opportunity to move forward. Alex hasn't had that chance. Brian, maybe today, like me is getting time off from some of the responsibilities. But that's I think how we do it. And every corner I go around, I see somebody smiling at me, offering to shake my hand. And I like to think that not only are we a family, our division, but Parkland as a whole is one bigger family and I'm very thankful for that.

DR. BRIAN H. WILLIAMS, TRAUMA SURGEON, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: And I've also been leaning on my wife quite a bit during this time. She's been incredible.

MINSHALL: I'm not leaning on his wife.

(LAUGHTER)

MINSHALL: But our spouses are special people. They recognize -- maybe Alex's wife is even more special, because he, like, five jobs. But they know and they've come along with us to get to where we are. They've grown with us. And if they weren't a huge support for us, we couldn't do the jobs that we have. And so, again, yeah/

DR. ALEX EASTMAN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, ROSS-JONES TRAUMA CENTER AT PARKLAND: When I got here on Friday morning, early, it was probably, I don't know, 3:00 in the morning, 3:30. I was pretty ragged out from what we had just been through downtown. And -- but I had had to come here and see for how the family was doing on this end. And the first group of people I bumped into were some of our trauma nurses who are standing in the back.

And I could tell that they were relieved that I was OK. But I also was relieved that they were OK. And we do have a lot of healing to do. But the one thing I know is that when times are tough, we do it together. I think we've all talked, hugged, loved each other over the last few days. And for me, where I haven't had a real chance to sit down and compose my thoughts, nearly everyone in this room that's not behind the camera called me texted me, checked on me, made sure I was OK, brought their families to the house, brought their families to the house, whatever I need. I think that's what this place is all about and it will always be about no matter what you've heard, read, through our ups and downs. The one thing that's been a constant here at Parkland is that wee pride ourselves on doing whatever, whenever. Doesn't matter. We just take care of the patients who present that need us. And I think over the last few days, some of us have needed each other more than ever. And I'm proud to say that I can count on the people up here and across the board to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you guess how many caregivers were there in the trauma center at the height of when everything was going on? And did anyone come to work voluntarily when they heard what was going on?

DR. JOSEPH MINEI, CHIEF OF SURGERY, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: There were surgeons who were in the hospital at the time completing their duties, who did not have a responsibility in trauma center who came down to help. I came in. We had an army of surgical residents as well here. A number of nurses I don't even think I could count. There were more than enough people to care for the seven people that came through the door. I couldn't even count how many it was.

WILLIAMS: We had the seven police officers, but there were still other traumas coming in during that time.

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: If I could just comment, too. Parkland has had many experiences in disaster response. So our disaster medical director, so this trauma center is very capable of staying on top of any kind of disaster. We have exercised it and planned it, we've done it, we've responded and asked ourselves what did work, what didn't work, we revisit that, and we retrain ourselves. So this experience and our response is a perfect example of that training and how we look at ourselves very critically and asked what needs to be changed.

We activated what we call a code yellow level 3 minor response, which means that everybody in the house responds. We don't typically reach out for a lot of other resources to come in from the outside and we manage this. And, again, the trauma nurses that work with me were on spot. They knew exactly what to do. We create small teams.

Every patient got the very best of care, whether they were from the shooting or whether they were in a motor vehicle crash that was transferred. After the event, we evaluate what worked, what didn't work. We're already doing that process. We work today. We had a short debriefing of the event. And we asked, what do we need to do different for the next one? And we're already looking at changes for that.

[14:35:49] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What type of changes?

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: Our changes are almost always communication-related. So in this particular event, there were a lot of people who, as you heard, do I come back, do I not come back? We have some new staff members. They had worked with us in a previous event. So we have addressed that, a code yellow, level 3. You don't come back to this hospital unless you're called.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We had heard at one point during the evening the hospital said no more trauma, we can't take any more trauma. Is that -- I'm not sure if you can confirm that or not.

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: It's not true for this facility. In fact, on the private transfer, we sent them to our medical directors. I think Dr. Williams actually screened the calls, whether or not they needed to come to this facility or not. But we did not stop care at all.

WILLIAMS: So, I was still receiving calls requesting transfer for patients and our ADT representative, which transfers came to me and asked should we stop accepting transfers. And my response to her was, no, we're Parkland, we don't shut down.

EASTMAN: I will add to that as a trauma medical director, we track this here. And I can tell you, in the last three years, we have not spent one minute on trauma divert here. We have been open continuously through everything that has struck this community over the last three years, whether it was Ebola, shootings, mass casualty incidents, flooding, chaos, mayhem, whatever has been here, the doors don't close here. And we take that very seriously in our role as the safety net hospital in this community. And as the flagship level 1 trauma center, to make sure that we're always available.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you talk at all about the nature, without specifics, of course, but the nature of any of the types of situations you were faced with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The providers cannot give that information.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Captain, we'd love to hear from you on what that night was like.

CAPT. DAN BIRBECK, DALLAS COUNTY HOSPITAL DISTRICT POLICE: Well, it was extremely trauma. When I first was at home getting ready to lay down for the evening, I was watching the news like most people were to see what was happening downtown, listening to the radio, and heard the shots on TV. I told my wife that I needed to go. And of course, she tried to talk me out of it. I live just a few minutes from here. I pulled up about the same time we started receiving patients. As the night wore on, it became evident how bad this incident had occurred. There was a question asked about staff and were they willing to come in. This happened just before our shift change. And so we were fortunate in that that we had two shifts of officers here, but the officers that had already put their time in wouldn't leave. Our main objective was to make sure that this facility was safe. That we had received unconfirmed reports of multiple shooters. We didn't know if we would receive one of the shooters. So we stood up. And we handled what we had to handle. We kept everybody safe. I think it was after it was all over with and I got home that it really hit. But the support from the Parkland family has been overwhelming. The e-mails, the food, and everything that our department has received has just been spiritually uplifting for us. So that's pretty much what we were dealing with. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I think this is going to stay with you for the

rest of your life.

BIRBECK: I've been in law enforcement over 20 years, and this is the worst thing I've ever seen. And we see a lot of trauma come through here. We work in the E.R. along with these guys making sure everybody's safe, and this is probably the worst thing that I've seen come through here. It's shaken us. It's shaken me to the core. So we all have a lot of healing to do. It's very hard. I think one of the toughest things I've ever had to do was stand outside the rooms of those fallen guys, you know, providing security detail, and then taking them out to be transferred to the M.E.'s office. There was a line of officers falling respect to their fallen comrades. That was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. So it will take some time, and we'll get through.

[14:40:44] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A lot of people shaking their heads at that. Was that perhaps the most or one of the most difficult moments of that night?

MINSHALL: It was. I stepped out about maybe 3:00. I had just missed out, I was coming back. When I stepped out, I was getting ready to go across the street to my office to get cleaned up. But one of the most amazing things I will take away from that night along with the sorrow is going out on that path and seeing all the police cars, all of the ambulances, all the providers that were there. That thing was packed. There it was like trying to get out of a concert hall. There was so many people who had come here, flocked here to try and help and take care of people. I was in awe. It was truly an amazing scene. And I came back over about 4:00 when the Honor Guard was there. And there was still just as many -- they had to move people of the way to be able to take the bodies. And so it kind of was a mixed emotion at that point, you know, with all of what had happened still weighing on our souls. But the overwhelming support that was there was pretty amazing. And I still remember looking at that, just shaking my head going, I can't, this is so incredible. And I just think that was the highlight of a night with a lot of low lights.

BIRBECK: I'd like to add to that. When that all occurred and those Dallas officers were in here, they were obviously dealing with the loss of their loved ones and their partners, and our department had this overwhelming sense of need to protect them. And, you know, our officers let them know that we had their backs, that they could stand down, that they could take care of what they needed to in the E.D. with their officers that the ones that were deceased.

So to all of my officers, they've expressed that need to be there and to take care of those guys while they were grieving and dealing with what they were dealing with. Just very proud of the way that we stood up and dealt with this as a whole team. And supportive to those that really needed us.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has anyone here been able to have a moment with a counselor or anything like that?

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You have?

BIRBECK: Yes. Obviously, with it being police officers that were shot, that impacted my guys tremendously. They're seeing this firsthand. I think we all know that when we do this job, there's a chance we may not come home. It became real that night for a lot of our guys, two shifts of our guys. So we've asked that our pastoral care come to our roll calls. We've had briefings and made sure that anybody that is in need of any counseling, it's available to them. So, yes, we've been very proactive in making sure that our guys are taken care of.

(CROSSTALK)

EASTMAN: I'm still working on a real dinner at a dinner table. I haven't made that yet. So I'm going to try to do that first and then re-evaluate from there. Meals have been eaten in squad cars and standing around and on the go. So once I get that done, I'm going to do that, and try to go for a run after that. And then -- maybe not right after.

(LAUGHTER)

And then I'm going to try to regroup from there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

[14:44:43] BIRBECK: I have not. I haven't felt really the need to do that yet. I've had a few good cries dealing with it and trying to get the emotions out. I took my uniforms to the tailor, and went in there, and the lady is playing music "Wind Beneath my Wings," which is commonly played at funerals, and right there in the tailors, just broke down. It's just a process. I'm getting through it. But, no, I haven't sought services yet. I don't think I'm going to need that. I'm processing it.

WILLIAMS: Talk about the emotional impact, it's much more complicated for me personally. It's not just about that one night. It's about the racial undertones that affects and impact all of this. So it began for me much before those cops came through the door that evening. I don't know what I'm going to do about that. But right now, it is certainly a struggle. There's where I'm standing with law enforcement, but I also personally feel and understand that angst that comes when you cross the paths of an officer in uniform, and you're fearing for your safety. I've been there. And I understand that. But for me, that does not condone disrespecting or killing police officers. And it's something I'm struggling with constantly. And I truly don't know what I'm going to do next.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

WILLIAMS: Yes, I do.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

WILLIAMS: So, I have a daughter. I make sure -- I do simple things when I'm out in public. When I see police officers eating at a restaurant, I pick up their tab. I even once time a year or two ago, I bought one of the Dallas P.D. officers some ice cream when I was out with my daughter getting ice cream. I want my daughter to see me interacting with police that way, so she doesn't grow up with the same burden that I carry when it comes to interacting with law enforcement. And I want the police officers to see me, a black man, and understand that I support you, I will defend you, and I will care for you. That doesn't mean that I do not fear you. That doesn't mean that if you approach me, I will not immediately have a visceral reaction and start worrying for my personal safety. But I'll control that the best I can and not let that impact how I deal with law enforcement.

BIRBECK: Dr. Williams, I'd like to say something to your credit.

During our critical debriefing that occurred after this happened, Dr. Williams got up and spoke to the leadership of the hospital, and I think as a law enforcement officer, I understand what he's saying. But one of the things that stood out to me that made me respect Dr. Williams so much is he said, when those three police officers came through the door, the initial ones, that not even for a second did he think about anything that was going on, or that it compromised him caring for them, no differently than he would anybody else. And that, to me, was very reassuring, that he was willing to set aside any personal feelings that he had and that he was going to care for those guys with everything that he had. I appreciated that.

EASTMAN: I'll take it one step further. Brian and I are like the rest of the guys here, we are close. And we don't just say that to entertain you. We work together, we play together, we vacation together. Our families know one another. Our wives know one another. Our children know one another.

And I think as I watched us all struggle through this, Brian and I have had some very long hugs, and the beginnings of some really challenging conversations about how we move forward from here. And I think it's interesting that two guys who truly love each other. And I know he would to anything for me and I would do anything for him, have such very different takes on how this all comes together. But I think what's been awesome for me is both of our resolves to move the discussion forward and to help turn what is truly a senseless act into something that helps us as a city, helps us as a family, and helps us as a country move forward from here.

[14:50:01] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And going from there, the international spotlight is on Dallas right now. What do you want people around the world to know about us?

EASTMAN: You want to take that?

MINEI: Well, I think listening to Chief Brown earlier today in his statements, you know, I think he was on point in that we have to come together as a city, as a community, not black and white and Hispanic, but as a community to figure out how to go forward. I think his words certainly resonated with me, and hopefully, out of this tragedy, there will be some good that will come out of it and we will make meaningful steps forward as a community in race relations and in caring for each other. And I think you can see here amongst this group that we don't see each other as black or white. We see each other as a family of surgeons who's out there to care for the community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we can just get a couple more.

EASTMAN: Can I say one thing to you I think that's really important? The chief, again, he's a great guy to work for. And he's been unbelievable. What he said this morning was dead-on. But I'll tell you what I hope people get from this, is that we will not let hate drive this discussion. And we won't let acts of gun violence drive this discussion. And we won't let this city be known for a hateful act that occurred here. I think what's going to come from this and what I hope comes from this is that people who never before talked to one another or hugged one another, doesn't matter if you're black, white, surgeon, not, we don't care. It doesn't matter. This city is going to come together and showed the world exactly what we're made of. And that's what's happening right now.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Nurse, would you like to share something with us?

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: I would say, the day after this, I am just so proud of this team and this staff, the medical staff. It's not easy to be vulnerable. And it takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable, vulnerability that they have shown through this. Typically, when you're dealing with health care workers, they tend to be stoic sometimes. We can roll with it. We can do whatever is necessary. And we can.

But really, there's the human and emotional side. I think taking away from this, what I've been so proud of, knowing our people are technically competent, can really get through any disaster. It's the quality of the human being that people that are here and the people that help support this tragedy. And the human side of it that we're all here today. It takes courage to be vulnerable. And I'm very, very proud of that. And we see that with our surgeons and our staff.

And we're really helping support each other. I think the human factor is really coming through here in the city of Dallas. I see it throughout our system. We love our patients at Parkland. We do everything we can to take care of them. And it takes a heart to work here, and I think it was demonstrated.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How are the nurses doing as a whole, the ones that participated in this?

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: I think they're struggling. They're still struggling. It takes an emotional toll when you go through something like this. Some people may not feel like they need counseling now. They may need it two weeks from now or three weeks from now. But we're still struggling. And we're a group that likes to save people's lives.

MINSHALL: I'll say one last thing. It's hard for me to put this into focus of the national attention of what's going on with race relations. We don't care what color you are, what race you are, what creed. When you come here, you're a patient, and we do the best to take care of you that we possibly can. I think that's how we live our life, and that's how we treat each other.

And so at times, it's hard for me to put in context when there's still people who don't treat people that way. It's almost unbelievable to me. And so that's kind of where I am. I think that's where we are as a whole.

Probably, Brian, with your background, this is different, but certainly the way we are as a group together. I think that's where we are. And so that's what Parkland insured or uninsured, you come here, we're going to take care of you.

[14:55:41] EASTMAN: I know that's what we are. And I don't think I know. And as the person up here who wears a couple of different hats, I mean, I'm a Dallas police officer, and I'm proud of that. But I'm a Parkland trained surgeon. I'm a home-grown product. I've spent my whole career in the walls of this building or the one across the street. And I think that there is no finer group that I would walk this with again. None.

MINSHALL: Any final questions? We're going to wrap it up. A lot of these providers are either on duty or have been on duty.

So thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That was really an extraordinary press conference there at Parkland Hospital in Dallas with people really sharing their experience, people who were on the front lines. And I think it's something that we don't haven't heard enough of, at least over the past couple of days since this has happened, in the past week or so, about people who actually work together and love each other, of different ethnicities and races and backgrounds.

And I think that happens more in America than we hear about, especially over the last couple weeks.

The gentleman that spoke said my last conversation was with a Black Lives Matter leader, and she was saying a cop shouldn't be a cop. That guy is a cop knows how to de wit both angles. People can be multi-dimensional and wear different hats. I think it's important to hear that.

The one person in that press conference that I was most impressed with, and American, if you look on social media, he's trending. That's Dr. Brian H. Williams. He is a black surgeon there. And says he knows from both sides. He's afraid of police. But he's made a commitment to serve the community and to save everybody's lives, including police officers. And what he does with his daughters, buying police officers lunch and ice cream because he wants to see his daughter having good interactions with police officers. All of these surgeons saying thing like this. He said, for him, the problem wasn't the lack of -- wasn't the issue with, wasn't the issue with, you know, this guy. He said the problem is the lack of open discussion about racism in this country. That's what the problem is with him, and I second that emotion. Amen to you, Dr. Brian H. Williams. I'd love to have him come on this show and start that discussion, help us start that discussion here.

I want to bring in Bob Gorsky, an attorney who represents the Dallas Police Department.

Thank you so much for coming in. Thank you.

I understand that you were called into the police headquarters after this shooting. And I want to talk about the victims a little bit later on. But what did you think of this press conference, these doctors in this press conference?

BOB GORSKY, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING THE DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Hey, Don. I heard the tail end of the press conference, and I would second much of what was said about the officers, how they're hurting at the present time, but how they're coming together and supporting themselves.

I'd also like to say Dr. Alex Eastman, I've known Dr. Eastman, he's a special guy. He is so well-thought-of in the police department. He helps these officers in ways we can't imagine, other than just the medical treatment that he often provides.

LEMON: And again, and these doctors are admitting -- they're saying, listen, we've been going nonstop since Thursday and they said they need some time off. But it is nothing compared to what the victims' families are dealing with. And so they know that. And some of them are probably going to get some time off. But you knew two of the victims, right? So tell us about them.

GORSKY: That's correct. Yes, Mike Smith, Sergeant Mike Smith, I knew for many years. Mike was a supervisor that every officer would want to have. Police officers want supervision that's consistent and they want supervisors that will watch their back and support them when they believe they're correct and when a supervisor believes they're correct. That was the guy Mike Smith was. He was close to retirement. And he's going to be missed.

Lorne Ahrens (ph), Lorne (ph) was a bear of a guy, but always had a smile on his face. My wife and I were at a wedding, a police wedding three weeks ago. I introduced my wife to Lorne (ph) and his wife, who is also a police officer and a fabulous lady.