This document provides summaries of various individuals and organizations in the Henderson, Nevada community who helped others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples mentioned include a hospital medical supply director who ensured adequate PPE, a teacher who created online learning content, a non-profit that provided rent assistance, and businesses like restaurants and distilleries that donated food, hand sanitizer and masks to support frontline workers. The document recognizes these "Henderson Heroes" who stepped up to serve and support their community during the crisis.

1. Celebrate Our
Henderson Heroes
There are countless examples of first
responders, essential workers, businesses,
local leaders and even friends and neighbors
who have stepped forward during this
pandemic to support our community in
extraordinary, and sometimes unexpected,
ways. Check out these inspirational examples
of local heroism, kindness and servitude in
our community.
If you would like to recognize a Henderson
resident, organization or business, please
engage with us on Facebook or Twitter using
#HendersonHeroes.

2. Supply Guy has
Special Skills
Abraham Padilla is Henderson Hospital's
Medical Supply Director who was responsible
for supplying unprecedented amounts of PPE
for their team during the COVID-19
pandemic.
"Abe successfully navigated the procurement
process in a time when worldwide supply of
PPE was at an all-time low. Because of Abe’s
tireless attention to detail and commitment,
our team never went without PPE.
Affectionately, Abe has earned the nickname
'Radar' within our hospital."

3. Teacher Created
Digital Content for
Other Teachers
One example of the incredible dedication and
ingenuity of Henderson educators is Julie
Hunter, a GATE teacher at McCaw STEAM
Academy. Beyond teaching the 40 students
assigned to her, she designed digital, project-
based curriculum for over 350 3rd, 4th and 5th
grade students and additional digital content
for the schoolwide reading program. These
video lessons allowed the classroom teachers
to have more time for personal interaction
with students to enhance the learning
experience.
Thank you to Ms. Hunter and all of our City’s
hard-working educators!

4. Community Ambulance
Serves City’s First
Responders
Community Ambulance, City of
Henderson’s franchised ambulance
provider, has stepped up in
partnership beyond their normal
scope of work to provide testing
and vaccination services for our
City’s first responders.
Thank you, Community Ambulance!

5. HopeLink Helped
Henderson Assist
Residents in Need
The nonprofit organization HopeLink
provided individualized support and
resources to help residents counter
the fear and uncertainty of the
pandemic. We were especially
grateful to HopeLink for assisting us
in providing nearly 250 residents
with rent, mortgage and utility
payments.
Thank you, HopeLink, for more than
25 years of service to support
Henderson families and prevent
homelessness.

6. Nurse Gives
“Joy” Extra
Meaning

7. Caesars Entertainment Donated
Food to Seniors in Need
When the shutdown began, Caesars
Entertainment immediately recognized they
would have a large supply of food that would go
unused. They offered a portion of it to the City
and our Parks and Recreation team acted quickly,
lining up their trucks to pick up the food and
distribute it.
Because of generous donations from Caesars and
many other organizations, we were able to
provide nearly 1,200 bags of food to homebound
seniors and $80,000 dollars in donated food to
residents in need at the start of the pandemic,
and those numbers have continued to grow.

8. Thank You,
Henderson
Hospital!
Henderson Hospital’s team of
dedicated doctors, nurses,
technicians and other healthcare
professionals sacrifice themselves
daily to serve our sickest and most
vulnerable.

9. Polar Shades Produced
Masks and Gowns for
First Responders
When the City of Henderson team had
difficulty sourcing Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE), Polar Shades jumped
into action and immediately converted
their manufacturing lines to produce the
gowns and masks our first responders
and healthcare providers needed.
Thank you Steve Mevius and the Polar
Shades team for your innovation and for
supporting our essential workers.

10. An Ounce of
Prevention is Better
than a Pound of Cure
Kimberly Vaughn, Infection Preventionist, is
an expert in Infection Prevention and was
Henderson Hospital's fearless pandemic-
leader during COVID-19.
She used the latest science to advise their
team on best practice, taught team members
how to use advanced PPE, and monitored
COVID trends daily. Her expertise, confidence
and commitment helped to keep Henderson
Hospital patients and the team safe in an
otherwise unsettling time.

11. HOA Task Force Helped
Sun City Anthem
Residents
Jeff Varnes, a resident and director of Sun City
Anthem’s all-volunteer Emergency
Preparedness Service Group, helped to
convene the COVID-19 Task Force in his
community of 5,000+ last March. Jeff has
been in close contact with the City of
Henderson Emergency Operations Center and
the Task Force volunteers implemented
precautionary safety measures, provided
information to residents, coordinated COVID-
19 testing, and planned and executed vaccine
deployment.
Thank you to Jeff and Sun City Anthem’s
COVID-19 Task Force for giving of your time to
care for your fellow Henderson residents.

12. We Salute
St. Rose Dominican
Hospitals!
St. Rose Dominican Hospitals
are celebrating 20 years at their
Siena Campus and almost 75 years
in Henderson.
Thanks to all the amazing St. Rose
healthcare professionals for your
dedicated and caring service to our
community!

13. Governor Recognized
Creator of Local
Barter Group
Julie Danner was named the first Nevada
Hero of the Day by Gov. Steve Sisolak and
Nevada Health Response, kicking off a
program to recognize good deeds
throughout the state. In March, Danner
founded the Las Vegas/Henderson
Coronavirus Community Rescue & Barter
group on Facebook to help provide
meals, clothing and other essentials. It
since has become a home for members
to ask for help or to offer it.

14. Safety First!
Desmond Johnson, Adult Health Clinical Supervisor at
Henderson Hospital, led a group of committed nurses
assigned to one of their COVID-19 treatment areas.
"He paid special attention to safety procedures such as the
use of the buddy system when decontaminating after care.
His extra focus on caregiver safety procedures
undoubtedly helped to keep our team and our patients
safe during the pandemic."

15. Cyrus and
Michael Tang
Foundation
Donated
200,000
Masks

16. Las Vegas Distillery Converted
Operations to Make Hand
Sanitizer
When hand sanitizers were in high
demand and supply was running low, the
Las Vegas Distillery in Henderson
converted their operations to produce
hand sanitizers for the City’s use. We are
grateful for their quick action to support
our essential workers.

17. Touro University
Students Volunteered
for Community Service
More than 100 Touro University
Nevada students volunteered
through #MedReady, an initiative
that offered free online tutoring as
well as opportunities for
community services such as health
screenings and even delivering
groceries.

18. Hope for the City
Drive-Through
Pantries
The nonprofit Hope for the City
hosted immersive, holiday-themed
drive-through pantries at Central
Church in Henderson. The group
has created more than 375 pop-up
food banks and given away more
than 9 million pounds of food to
nearly 750,000 individuals since the
start of the pandemic.

19. Community Created
Messages for Residents
in Nursing Homes and
Care Facilities
The “Show You Care” program at
The District gathered video
messages from the community to
be played at local nursing homes
and care facilities where visitation
had been halted.

20. Henderson Police
Department Helped
Boy Celebrate Birthday
Gavin Hinds, disappointed that the
pandemic prevented him from
visiting SeaWorld for his birthday,
quickly rebounded when officers
from the Henderson Police
Department showed up to
celebrate him. Gavin was surprised
by the arrival of five vehicles, with
their lights and sirens on, carrying
officers who sang “Happy Birthday”
and handed out badge stickers.

21. Free Childcare for
First Responders
Within 12 hours of the shutdown last March,
the City of Henderson Parks and Recreation
Department was able to stand up emergency
24/7 childcare, retooling existing services in
our Recreation Centers to meet the childcare
needs of our first responders and medical
personnel so they could report for duty. As
the pandemic continued, that service evolved
to Battle Born Kids making childcare available
at low-cost for anyone living or working in
Henderson. Then, in the fall, the program
evolved again with Battle Born Academy,
providing a safe place for children to engage
in distance education.

22. St. Therese Center
HIV Outreach
Center Food Bank
The St. Therese Center HIV
Outreach center in Henderson has
helped to feed hundreds since the
Governor’s March order to close
nonessential businesses, with
assistance from Three Square and
First Rescue.

23. Black Mountain
Lights Lifted
Spirits
In April, Henderson’s Black Mountain had red lights
flicker on its western portion to form a heart
contained within a rough outline of Nevada state.
The lights were set up by David Koch, a local
attorney, and Mason, his 18-year-old son to “lift
people’s spirit” during the pandemic. It took them
11 hours to set up the lights over the mountain
which could be seen from the 215 Beltway.
Unfortunately, the Black Mountain Lights were
stolen in late December 2020, a mere five days
before they were supposed to be taken down. In
spite of this, many Henderson residents are still
thankful for the nightly heartwarming reminder of
hope during a dark time.

24. Henderson International
School Cheer Squad
Cheered the Community
Last May, the Henderson International School
elementary cheerleaders hosted a virtual cheer
and dance performance designed to encourage
and unite the Las Vegas valley community.
With no sports to cheer for at this time, the
team’s cheer coaches decided the squad could
cheer for our community instead. The squad
performed cheers and a pom dance-along with
their coaches.

25. Painted Rocks
Create Path to
Kindness
Some Henderson residents have
been placing painted rocks around
walking trails and parks in
Henderson, like Milana Garza and
her family who were profiled in a
recent media story.
The rocks share messages of hope
and kindness and make the path a
little brighter.

26. Chief Kim
Moore
Recognizes
EMS Liaisons
City of Henderson’s Division Chief of Emergency Management Systems (EMS)
expressed her gratitude to Brett Olbur, EMS Liaison for Dignity Health Systems,
and Tony Greenway, EMS Liaison for Valley Health Systems.
“These men are both available to me, the Battalion Chiefs and our crews on a
daily basis. Their efforts help to provide excellent continuity of care for the
patients we bring to their facilities. In addition, they regularly assist in trouble-
shooting issues, invite our providers to meaningful continuing medical education,
and deliver timely reports when our employees have been exposed to contagious
diseases during the pandemic. Finally, Tony Greenway has been instrumental in
developing ED/EMS programs at the Southern Nevada Health District and with
City of Henderson Fire Department and Human Resources leadership to provide
emergency treatment and infectious disease testing for employees that are
injured on duty.”

27. What Started with 24
Meals Has Grown to
More than 11,000
24Meals, the nonprofit started in March by
the Fresinski family of Henderson, has
delivered more than 11,000 chef-prepared,
home-cooked meals to families in need! More
than 160 local Las Vegas Chefs have
participated, and volunteers deliver meals to
more than 200 households (600+ people) five
days a week. Each meal is served with an
inspirational message on the lid.
All this has been done through the support of
the community without grant money or
government aid.

28. City of Henderson
Employee Goes Above and
Beyond to Help Protect Our
Most Vulnerable
Josie Ross, a specialist in the City of Henderson
Emergency Management, Safety and Environment
Department, stays in constant contact with more than
30 of our assisted living, long-term care and nursing
home facilities to help in the protection of more than
2,000 of our City’s most vulnerable population. Since
the beginning of the pandemic, she checked in with
each facility weekly carefully tracking COVID cases,
providing information on protocols and standards of
care, and addressing needs like arranging for PPE and
more than 75 testing strike teams. Josie also serves as a
regional liaison to the weekly statewide and
countywide department of emergency management
jurisdiction calls and keeps key City stakeholders
apprised with detailed notes. Thank you, Josie, for your
extraordinary efforts in this time of crisis.

29. Doughnut Deliveries to
Henderson Hospitals,
Fire Stations and Police
Commands
Last spring, Pinkbox Doughnuts
gave free doughnuts to Valley
Health System Hospitals and all
Henderson fire stations and
police commands.
The company delivered more
than 300 dozen free doughnuts
to first responders. Sweet
reward for their efforts!

30. IT Specialist Helped Employees
Work Safely from Home
Even while keeping all of the City services open to meet the
needs of our businesses and residents, we needed to protect
the health and safety of our own employees. To make it possible
for more than 2,500 City employees to work productively while
staying safe at home, our Information Technology department,
with special mention to Cloud Systems Architect Nikolaus
Rotzinger, acted quickly providing equipment, new software
and immediate training our new Microsoft Teams technology to
help our employees telecommute effectively. Not only were
employees able to be productive, but because of the video
technology, we were able to stay connected with each other as
well. Thank you, Nik!

31. Kitchen Table Offers Helped First
Responders, Furloughed
Employees and Families
At the height of the pandemic, Henderson’s Kitchen
Table restaurant offered healthcare heroes and first
responders 50 percent off their entire bill,
furloughed industry employees received a 15
percent discount, and kids 12 and under ate for
free.
Although those offers were temporary, they
continue special offers for first responders
throughout the year.