People On Site Of Saint Francis Campus Reflect On Mass Shooting In June

It's now been two months since the mass shooting that left four people dead in the Natalie Building on Saint Francis' campus.

News On 6’s Ashlyn Brothers first talked to a couple of healthcare workers who were in lockdown on June 1.

Tuesday they said they're still shaken but are impressed with local law enforcement and are overwhelmed by community support.

“It doesn't surprise me to see that kind of support at all. I don't know what it's like to live in other places, but it doesn't surprise me about Tulsa at all. We live in a wonderful community,” said Jan Hodges, Client Service Manager. “I've been more cognizant of letting people know that I love them. Making sure that I tell my husband and my daughter that I love them because we just don't know what could happen that day.”

“It's been really nice to see Tulsa as a community come together. I was really impressed by the Tulsa law enforcement. They came in and they took action right away so that just gave me a lot of trust in the Tulsa PD,” said King.

Jan Hodges was in the Kelly Medical Building across from the Natalie Building at the time of the mass shooting.

“I thought to myself I'm gonna know somebody that was killed. Yes, one of the victims was somebody that I knew. I didn't know them really well, but I had just visited with one of them just a couple of weeks before,” said Hodges.

Not a day goes by that Jan Hodges, Amanda King, and Katie Stewart don't think about what happened on Saint Francis' campus.

"Being leery and skeptical of people that I meet in the hallway,” said Jan Hodges, Client Service Manager. “You know I hate that, but I just feel like we all need to be more aware of what could potentially happen.”

"There was a lady that we saw who came out that we know that she lost her husband and just that pain just made me feel sick,” said Amanda King, Dental Hygienist. “It was just a lot and a lot to know that this was so senseless and still not understand why it happened.”

"It's not just me anymore. Being pregnant makes that even scarier,” said Katie Stewart, RN.

Stewart had recently moved to Tulsa from Wisconsin when police said Michael Louis shot and killed four people and then himself.

“I had called my fiance and said there's an active shooter. I don't know where he is and he was like you need to go hide in a closet and ever since then I've had my phone times,” said Stewart.

They watched from a nearby window as police swarmed the street.

“My building is right across from where the shooter was. It's probably 50 yards,” said King.

"Almost everyday I have someone say to me, 'Oh, you were here,’” said Hodges.

Hodges has seen more security since the shooting.

“I don't know. What's enough? I don't know if we could ever have enough protection,” said Hodges.

“We've met as our own office about what to do if this would happen in our building and we do have our escape routes and we do have more security now which has made us feel more comfortable, but at the same time it's hard to fully ever feel comfortable again when something like this does happen so close by,” said Stewart.

King's office did an active shooter training. She'd love to see a campus-wide alert system.

“I can't speak for like inside the actual hospital but in the buildings in the medical park, I don't feel like much has changed. It kind of seemed like business went back to normal. We haven't recieved any communication from Saint Francis on if polcies are changing. Checking in on employees. There just hasn't been communication,” said King. “I do hope that Saint Francis communicates with us, with the offices a little bit better. That maybe there could be an alert system that happens. As we reflected on that, we realized we didn't know if we were in lockdown that day. We didn't know if we could leave. We didn't know if it was safe. A group of about 13 of us crowded into an elevator and tried to leave together, and that was really scary to not know what was going on. We couldn't get ahold of security that day to know if our building was safe. To know if we were in a lockdown or not.”

King said many patients are worried about safety and she wants to reassure them.

"It's hard to reassure someone when we're not sure ourselves,” said King. She’s on guard now more than ever.

“It's just awful that as a healthcare professional you try to go into work and help people and then that's what they were doing and ended up losing their lives that day,” said King.

Hodges' office has met many times about their emergency response.

“At my place of employment we've already made several changes. We proposed and intercom system so that we can lock the door and when people come to the door we can find out if they have an appointment with us before we let them in. We have met several times now as a group and talked about escape routes and plans of how to communicate with each other if there's anything that ever happens like this again,” said Hodges.

She thinks most often about the victims.

"I just want to say to all the families of the victims, I'm so sorry and I hope that you can somehow get through this, and I hope that it never happens to anybody again. Unfortunately, it probably will because this is the world that we live in, but bless you, and bless all of your family and I pray for you,” said Hodges.

Saint Francis Health System said in a statement, “A security task force was formed on June 2 to immediately respond to the tragedy and review security measures across the health system. We are extremely thankful to the hundreds of employees who contacted us with ideas, concerns and recommendations regarding security. In addition to the retention of a national security consultant, Saint Francis has begun to implement several new and/or enhanced security measures and protocols across the system. More than 40 new initiatives have been implemented to date. As we continue to grieve and process the devastating loss of four innocent people, we want to again thank our community for the outpouring of support and prayers received for the victims’ families, our staff and the entire Saint Francis family.”