A nurse holds a sign at a candlelight vigil for Alex Pretti.
Healthcare workers and community members gathered in front of Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center at Colfax and Wheeling in Aurora on Wednesday night to join a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Alex Pretti, the VA nurse shot by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.
Signs reading “Nurses Care for all People” and “Nurses Care. No Exception” were handed out along with candles as a photo of Pretti, an ICU nurse who worked at a Minnesota VA hospital, was displayed behind the speakers with flowers laid in his memory.
The vigil, organized by National Nurses United, was meant to be “a warm, kind, peaceful moment of mourning, processing, healing, and gathering strength,” an organizer told the crowd. “This is not to say that we shouldn’t rally,” she added, “but tonight is about Alex. It’s about all the people he fought for and died for.”
The nurses who spoke talked about the hospitals behind them with some people inside going through their worst days. Outside, a call was heard for participants to support each other and commit to change.
“You don’t have to process each new tragedy with nothing but a swipe to the next video to carry us through. We need each other in moments like this, and that is what tonight is for,” an organizer said.
The program was followed with time to gather, music, and song from the Denver Feminist Chorus.
National Nurses United is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses. Its members are holding vigils across the country.
Front Porch photos by Linda Kotsaftis
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