Patrick Herrera was a 6-foot-tall bodybuilder who was as comfortable chasing troubled teenagers as calming a baby.
Herrera, part of the intervention team at Mount St. Vincent Home, died Wednesday after collapsing at his home. He was 33.
No cause of death has been determined, said his mother, Claudine Herrera.
Service arrangements are pending.
Mount St. Vincent, at 4159 Lowell Blvd., cares for kids with emotional and behavioral problems. Herrera was part of the crisis-intervention team, which is “like a nonviolent SWAT team,” said Dennis Kennedy, the home’s communications director.
The team, which includes mental-health workers, quickly removes kids from a class or event if they are exhibiting crisis behavior, said Jennifer Veldhoff, supervising lay clinician at the home.
The kids at Mount St. Vincent typically have suffered from abuse, neglect, grief and loss, said Veldhoff.
The aim of the crisis-intervention team is to make sure a teen doesn’t disrupt a class or other event and that they aren’t dangerous to themselves or others.
“Patrick was like Superman here,” Veldhoff said. “He could subdue someone and talk them down. He had the biggest heart. He gave everyone a sense of safety. People here were endeared to him.”
She said that when Herrera started there three years ago, “it was like a temporary stop” on his way. But not long ago, Herrera told Veldhoff he wanted to be there “forever.”
“He said he didn’t know he would love the place so much and hadn’t planned on being a lifer here,” she said, laughing.
“He was like a gentle warrior, a fair guy who knew how to set boundaries,” Kennedy said. “His will and his size were imposing.
“He had an emotional range that was in tune with what we’re trying to do here.”
The home’s executive director, Sister Amy Willcott, called Herrera “a teddy-bear sort of guy. He connected with everyone.”
Patrick Herrera was born in Duren, Germany, on Nov. 11, 1976, and moved to the United States in 1990 from Italy, where his father, Alex Herrera, was stationed with the military. He graduated from Bear Creek High School and served in the U.S. Navy.
In addition to his mother and father, he is survived by his wife, Laura Davenport of Highlands Ranch; and two brothers, Gary Herrera of Duncan, S.C., and Paul Herrera of Denver.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
