As part of its ongoing efforts to maintain the safest medical care delivery environments possible for its patients and staff, The Central Florida Health Alliance (CFHA) held a full-scale Active Shooter Drill on Thursday at its two main campus locations — Leesburg Regional Medical Center (LRMC) at 8 a.m. and at The Villages Regional Hospital (TVRH) at 1:30 p.m.
While the likelihood of confronting an active shooter in a local hospital setting is extremely low, such incidents have occurred far too often across our nation — and it is a reality of life that any type of violent aggression is possible. Many hospitals, schools and other buildings which house public services plan for such an eventuality — and train their staff to handle emergencies — to minimize loss of life, injury, and secondarily, property damage.
Thursday’s emergency management exercise was an “industry best practice” approach to help train CFHA staff for their roles and responsibilities during a potential active shooter incident. Participants tested current policies and procedures, to help determine needs and capabilities for the future, while gaining personal experience.
A tent had been set up in a remote parking lot as a staging area for members of the Lake and Sumter County Sheriff’s Office personnel and members of the Lady Lake Police Department. SWAT team members were briefed there before entering the hospital building.
At precisely 1:30 p.m., after an announcement over the Public Address system that an active shooter drill was being staged, a “deranged shooter,” played by Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Nicholas Jones, burst through the main entrance to The Villages Regional Hospital, shouting threats and brandishing an “automatic weapon.” He “shot” everyone in sight, moving quickly through the lobby and up a staircase to a (previously emptied) wing of patient rooms on the second floor.
Keeping in mind the logistical difficulty of staging a drill of this type at a fully functioning healthcare facility, every effort was made to empty the shooter’s planned path, calmly moving a few patients and visitors aside.
“If this were a real crime scene,” Frank Faust, CFHA Director of Marketing, said, “we unfortunately wouldn’t know in advance the killer’s intended path, and we would not have a TV crew and reporters recording the exercise!”
The shooter’s weapon was intentionally chosen to look like a toy, so as not to terrify bystanders, who might not understand the nature of the drill. ” The bright yellow and green plastic ‘machine gun’ was also chosen to avoid confrontation by any off-duty police or citizens with concealed carry weapons permits who might be tempted to assist in collaring what they thought was a real perpetrator ,” Lady Lake Police Sgt. Shane Barrett said
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In the shooter’s wake were several “victims”- some with “fatal wounds,” others with less serious injuries. The victims were played by professional actors as well as volunteers from The Villages Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Moulage “casualty simulation” wax and silicone make-up was employed to create realistic blood and puncture wounds.
A male nurse, played by LCSO Deputy Shawn Lukans, was forcibly taken hostage by the perpetrator and pulled behind a locked hospital room door.
Members of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team stormed up the hospital stairs and surrounded the room where the perpetrator was holed up with his hostage in tow. The hostage negotiating team spoke at length through a locked door for more than an hour, asking the shooter why he had decided to commit this deed, and what he was wanting to accomplish. The perpetrator had grabbed his hostage at random, but spoke about a real or imagined family problem involving a person (or people) at the hospital — which prompted his violent actions. He gave the SWAT officers a list of demands, including a helicopter to make his escape to safety.
Although the active SWAT team simulators had emptied their weapons prior to the drill, to avert any accident, one key officer remained armed on the sidelines for ‘business as usual.’ Step by step, progress was made, and a non-violent resolution was negotiated to the potential powder-keg situation. The hostage was released unharmed, and the perpetrator was arrested and led off in handcuffs. Counseling services for traumatic anxiety were offered to the injured as well as to bystanders and hospital staff.
As part of their training, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals had to stay clear of the active shooting area, despite victims on the ground who might have been in dire need of medical care or life-saving surgery. “One of the important learnings of this type of drill,” David Larrick, CFHA Manager of Marketing, said, “is that no matter what the situation, we cannot endanger our healthcare staff. They must remain in safe areas until law enforcement gives an ‘all clear,’ — that it is safe for them to tend to the victims.”
CERT Commander, Wayne Ward, brought several team members, who volunteered as victims. “They are seasoned veterans at playing the victim roles,” Ward said, “having posed in many types of accident or catastrophic situations during CERT’s annual training simulations. Exercises of this type are immensely valuable, because if a catastrophy were unfortunately to occur, the training would likely be recalled as needed.”
“The Active Shooter Drill was a collaborative effort involving healthcare and emergency response professionals who have developed realistic scenarios that include the facilities’ clinical and administrative areas,” John Maze, CFHA’s director of safety and emergency management, said. “The goal was to provide participants hospital-specific resources on preparing for an active shooter.”
“This program was developed to bring together the various stakeholders — security, law enforcement, disaster preparedness, emergency medicine, risk managers and others — to experience active drill scenarios and then discuss how the professions can work together to improve current written policies and procedures,” Maze continued. “Our main priority remains the safety and well being of staff members, our patients and their families.”
The exercise was facilitated by Emergency Response Educators and Consultants, Inc. (EREC) of Ocala. “Exercise evaluators will facilitate discussions with the participants and compile their analysis in an After-Action Report and Improvement Plan,” CFHA’s Director of Marketing, Frank Faust, revealed, “with recommendations for future training, equipment acquisition and procedural refinements.”
