Las Vegas Massacre: Hospital standards in Las Vegas helped save lives

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On Sunday night, as soon as reports started coming in of gunfire along the popular Las Vegas strip, local hospitals and medical personnel kicked into action. It was a night of non-stop surgeries, and Las Vegas even made it legal for out of town medics to work legally. But medical centers there say they were prepared for such an incident. Our correspondent Patrice Howard reports.

Here's 23 year old Elle Smith, basking in the Las Vegas sun on her first day of vacation.

She traveled from California with a friend to see this country concert - the one attacked by a lone gunman who shot into the crowd. Now she's here with a gunshot wound to the head, fighting for her life.

KATIE GARGANO MOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM "She's alive because it did not penetrate the skull. She's also alive because there was an EMT because there was an EMT close to where she fell and he was able to put pressure on the wound and another, EMT came by with a car and as an angel brought her to the first hospital."

Elle's mom Cindy said the rapid, trained response of EMTs at the shooting scene and later at hospitals like Spring Valley saved her daughter's life.

KATIE GARGANO MOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM We feel like we are here with a family, as opposed to just nurses and doctors and being in a hospital this has been just an amazing thing for us.

PATRICE HOWARD LAS VEGAS You can see over my shoulder a flag at half staff - a nod to the wounded still inside. Victims streamed into this facility and others like it in Las Vegas at a scale many medical personnel said they had never before witnessed - given the number of patients and extent of their injuries.

Regularly held mass casualty training sessions held at Las Vegas hospitals helped when a real-life emergency struck this city. At University Medical Center, the area's level one trauma center, staff here knew what to expect - thanks to renewed training they received in the wake of Orlando's Pulse Nightclub shooting.

But here at Spring Valley the staff says helping patients is only part of their response plan.

CAROLYN HAFEN ER DIRECTOR, SPRING VALLEY HOSPITAL The phone just started is my family member there is my daughter there is my mom! I haven't seen my brother and I took one nurse and said this is your job. If they aren't at this facility, help them find where they are.

Elle's mom was one who called that night, to find her daughter in good hands. Patrice Howard, CGTN, Las Vegas.