Public Health Director Trudy Raymundo gave an emotional speech as the buildings reopened on Monday.
Endurance in the face of adversity was the message Monday at a news conference held by San Bernardino officials.
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Trudy Raymundo, the director of San Bernardino County’s Department of Public Health, who survived the shooting said: "Mourn with us the loss of our colleagues, of our friends, of our families and our loved ones. I ask that you come together and hold each other strong, because it is this strength that will help us heal. And I want you to every day be grateful for those of us that were spared.”
She added: "I want to make it clear that this is a very tight, close-knit group. They have always supported each other. They are beyond co-workers. They are friends and they are family. They are tight and we are holding onto each other right now.”
She also made the declaration: "We will heal, we will rebuild."
An ER doctor told of his reaction as he tried to help the victims, saying: “It tests your faith in human nature.”
One doctor accompanied a SWAT team into the building where the shooting happened, who told INSIDE EDITION: When I got down there it looked like a war zone. You had deputies pointing guns in every direction."
Defiance was also the message in the city over the weekend as the city's Christmas parade went ahead as scheduled, despite the horrors of the massacre just days before.
At a church nearby, worshippers mourned for one of their own -- father-of-six Mike Wetzel, who was killed in the terror attack.
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