On the night of May 15, 2013, into the early morning hours of the 16th, the Emergency Department at Rapid City Regional Hospital came under the equivalent of a heavy fire fight in a war zone. During that time, we received almost 10 patients an hour. At one point, we had 6 ambulances with critical patients entering the emergency department at one time and the acute side was almost completely full. Kim Laws was the charge nurse at that time.

Kim performed her duties in an absolutely outstanding manner. As the equivalent of a junior officer, she stepped up to the level of commanding officer during this disaster-like scenario pitching in and playing multiple roles from nursing assistant to charge nurse to triage nurse to primary care nurse, even to social worker to assist in handling these multiple critically ill patients. Never once did she complain nor attend to her own needs. Despite being exhausted from many hours of work and in an environment that is chronically understaffed as it was that night, Kim displayed some of the most heroic behavior I have ever witnessed in my 22 years as a physician. Because of her valiant efforts we were able to stabilize multiple critical patients and move them upstairs to other hospital beds while the traffic of the ill and injured continued to flow into the emergency department.

Kim's actions are at the level of someone who deserves the Medal of Honor. I cannot tell you how thankful I was to have her by my side during these extremely difficult circumstances. She should be recommended for the highest service medal that this institution has to offer.

Nomination written by Dr. Patrick Tibbles, ED physician