Clinton Grant’s father remembered the gory incident on Tuesday when his 3-year-old son was drawn to his grandfather’s gun pouch on the dresser. The boy shot his stomach in minutes.
Grant described rushing his baby to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and thanking the physicians, nurses, and staff who conducted many operations and kept him alive for two weeks.
Grant thanked everyone. That day was hazy. After two seconds, I heard “pow.” He ran when I turned around with ringing ears. I took him, checked him out, and shook straight to the truck and the hospital.”
Grant glanced out at Memorial Regional Hospital’s Trauma Awareness Day Celebration attendees.66
“That day plays in my head, and I’ve just got to say thank you to the people here who helped out,” Grant added. “They saved his life for me, and I want to say thank you.”
At least two dozen trauma patients from Memorial Regional Hospital or Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood received survivor medals, including 4-year-old Clinton Grant Jr. They had been in the vehicle, motorbike, plane, and gun accidents. Tragic tales.
Jacob Estrada, 7, escaped a horrifying vehicle crash after school. He had brain, heart, liver, stomach, and numerous fractures. A pregnant mother was killed in the crash.
Estrada spent 67 days in Joe DiMaggio, 50 in the ICU. He needs another surgery to remove his arm and leg flex nails and continues physical therapy.
Estrada smiled broadly as pediatric trauma surgeon Tammy Levene gave him a survivor’s medal on Tuesday. Sean Pratt of Miramar Fire Rescue, who treated him on the scene and brought him to the hospital, chased him around the room later.
“We drove as fast as we could to Memorial and worked him in the back on the way,” Pratt said. “Tough kid. Watching him walk is unbelievable.”
The annual Trauma Awareness Day Celebration helps trauma surgeon Niqui Kiffin appreciate her job.
“We see trauma every day, and we usually see patients and families at their worst,” Kiffin added. “Every day you wonder what you’re doing and why you’re here. Are you helping?”
Kiffin says most patients leave for rehab. “They are still not walking or getting tube-fed. Today is the only day we see patients and their families looking healthy and cheerful. We reset every year to remember why we do this.”
Trauma facility at Memorial for 32 years. For 25 years, it has been a Level 1 Trauma Center, providing complete injury care from prevention to rehabilitation. Level 2 pediatric trauma center Joe DiMaggio.
In 2022, the two trauma centers treated over 4,000 individuals. Joe DiMaggio patient Luke Fransisco, 12, survived a bus hit while crossing the street. Memorial patient J. Bautista was shot as a police officer. Megan Bishop, 35, survived a Pembroke Pines plane disaster that killed her child.
When spearfishing off Dania Beach with a companion, 43-year-old Dionny Baez never envisioned needing trauma center nurses and doctors.
Baez cried Tuesday when he recounted swimming in the ocean and being driven over by a speedboat. Baez had liver, diaphragm, and many fractures. EMS gave him blood and performed surgery at the trauma center in December 2021.
“I’m so happy to be here today because it was very, very close for me,” he added. “The care and how they put all their efforts to save someone’s life as if it were their own… After experiencing it, I believed it.”
After 13 years, Moise Brutus, 33, is recovered but recalls Memorial. At 20, he had three limbs amputated in a motorcycle accident. He cycled in the Paralympics, graduated college, and became a successful accountant.
Brutus still wonders: “Did they put me back together?”
He vividly remembers a Memorial Regional nurse saying, “All you need is your head and your heart.”
Sandra Sneed, Memorial Regional Hospital’s chief operating officer, believes the trauma surgeons’ talents and compassion and the hospital’s recovery teams save so many injured individuals. “They will save your life if possible.”
