Applying Skills to the Test

When Justin Oeth ‘06 stopped into work to help out for a few hours one July evening in 2012, he had no idea every skill and life lesson he had learned, both at Mount Mercy University and in his career, would be put to the test as he adapted to an unthinkable circumstance.

Oeth was the highest ranking manager on duty in the emergency room at University of Colorado Hospital, July 20, 2012, when a gunman opened fire on a movie theatre full of people less than five miles away from him in Aurora, CO, killing 12 and injuring more than 70.

“At Mount Mercy I learned not only the art of nursing, the science of nursing, but also the why,” Oeth said. “I look back on learning nursing at Mount Mercy and see it as really well-rounded program. We need to be ready to challenge the normal, and push the status quo forward. Through answering the why of nursing, Mount Mercy prepared me to do this.”

Though the events of July 2012 are not always easy for him to recount, Oeth said he now has a better appreciation for his training as a nurse, and, “It helped me to recognize that when bad events happen, teams can come together and take care of people.”

“I was the Associate Manager of the ER at that time. I had worked an administrative day in the office and left about 5 p.m. At 11 p.m. I called my charge nurse just to check in and she said ‘Hey, we could use some extra help,’ so I came in that night to give them a little extra help.

“That was the night of the Aurora shooting. At about 12:30 a.m., we started getting calls that something was going on and by 1 a.m. we knew we were getting patients. Within the first half hour we got 24 patients in critical condition from the Aurora shooting, it was a pretty intense situation.

“These were innocent bystanders who were caught in a terrible situation. They needed our help and they needed it fast. [In the end] every patient that came into our facility alive, left alive.”

Oeth’s journey was Dubuque, Iowa, to Mount Mercy University and then onto Denver, laid a foundation for his leadership role at University of Colorado Hospital.

“I grew up attending Catholic schools,” Oeth said. “There were a lot of good traits instilled in me through that education. Mount Mercy was an extension of this tradition.”

Not long after leaving the Hill, Oeth got married and moved to Colorado. He found his passion through working in the ER.

“The emergency department was very appealing to me — it’s fast paced, and I had a great time there,” Oeth said. “It’s not just bedside care that I love, it’s also motivating people and being part of a team that promotes the care of a lot of patients.”

He now serves as manager of University of Colorado Hospital Emergency Department. On an average day about 300 patients pass through his department, receiving care from Oeth’s team of 240 medical and staff professionals.

“I had to ask myself why I was in nursing. It was a challenging statement, an internal dialog with myself. That was probably the most enlightening moment for me when I realized ‘Wow, I really can be in situations like this and help coordinate and lead a team.’”

“I learned over the months following the shooting that we need to be reflective on events like this and learn from them,” Oeth said. “This was a terrible, terrible event. But if we don’t look at it and analyze why we do what we do, the event can pass us by and we don’t learn anything form it.

“I had to ask myself why I was in nursing. It was a challenging statement, an internal dialog with myself. That was probably the most enlightening moment for me when I realized ‘Wow, I really can be in situations like this and help coordinate and lead a team.’”