Glendale’s Community Newspaper
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Vol. 77 No. 22
Inside This Week
Couple receives Civil Air Patrol’s top honor BY ALEX GALLAGHER Glendale Star Staff Writer
Graduation Section Inside
BUSINESS .... 23 Local woman is trailblazer in car show community
Maj. Randy Hammit and Lt. Kelli Hammit received the Silver Medal of Valor on May 20, a year after their heroic efforts saved visitors during the Westgate Entertainment District mass shooting. Randy and a visiting friend were hoping to smoke cigars at Westgate, when the night quickly turned into one of the scariest and most eventful of their lives. As they were headed there from Randy’s Westgate-area apartment, they heard gunshots. Moments later, businesses and restaurants went dark as the shooter hit a power transformer. Reality then set in: The two were witnessing a mass shooting. Hammit and his friend immediately retreated and dialed 911.
Glendale Star Contributing Writer
Big Band Grandstand keeps its music alive
OPINION..................... 12 SPORTS ...................... 14 BUSINESS.................. 23 FEATURES.................. 26 RELIGION ................... 30 CLASSIFIEDS ............. 32
Congratulations Class of 2021!
They sought shelter near what was a boba tearoom, where they discovered Alfredo Jaime, 19, with a wound to his chest lying in the street and Destiny Bain, 16, crying for help with a lower leg injury. From there, Hammit and his friend sprang into action to help save the teens, even though danger loomed. Hammit took off his belt and used it as a tourniquet to control Bain’s bleeding. While applying pressure to Bain’s wound, Hammit received a call from his wife, Kelli, who heard the shots from their apartment complex and was concerned when the power went out. All she heard on the phone was “Stay with me.” Concerned, Kelli ran to her husband and friend. After arriving on the scene, she noticed the carnage. She
thought Jaime was dead. The registered nurse was wrong. She immediately began applying pressure to his chest with her bare hands until the authorities arrived. A police officer provided the couple with a first-aid kit, which they used to bandage Bain’s leg. Another officer followed with a combat action tourniquet to use on Bain. Paramedics didn’t arrive until 20 minutes after the teens were shot. Jaime and Bain have since recovered physically from the attack. “When I was on the floor begging and pleading for someone to come through, they were the only people who came around the corner to help me,” Bain said SEE HONOR PAGE 3
WESTMARC: West Valley boasts healthy future BY ILANA LOWERY
FEATURES .... 28
May 27, 2021
Health care is a thriving sector in the West Valley, and by all accounts, the region’s industry boom has only just begun. Consider that roughly 36% of the health care workers in Maricopa County live in the West Valley, according to Sintra Hoffman, president and CEO of WESTMARC. That’s about 41,000 skilled health care workers. Therefore, hiring professionals for medical facilities and hospitals — particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on —
can turn their attention to the West Valley as they seek to hire the talent that they need to staff positions from administrative and general practice to specialists and surgeons. Trevor Stokes, CEO at the Partnership for Workforce Innovation, said health care is the largest private-sector employer across Maricopa County. While health care is a broad industry, one example of its impact on the Valley is that 1 in every 5 sector jobs is in a hospital. “There has been a remarkable growth trajectory in the health care sector since 2016,” Stokes said of Maricopa Coun-
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ty. “More than 2,000 establishments have opened in the county in that five-year period.” He said health care subsectors, such as services for the elderly and outpatient mental health services, are growing at a rapid pace in the West Valley. Data collected for six West Valley cities (Avondale, Glendale, Goodyear, Peoria, Sun City West and Surprise) found that most of the health care workers in these communities provide office and administrative support, but a significant number SEE HEALTH PAGE 4