CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - In the wake of a deadly shooting at a local hospital earlier this year, Parkridge East Hospital is conducting an emergency response exercise at 4 p.m. today that allows physicians, staff, and law enforcement to practice responding to a shooting in the facility.
Parkridge East personnel will work with members of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team on the simulation, which will involve a ripped-from-the-headlines scenario: a family conflict in the hospital’s ICU that escalates into violence. Participants in the exercise will contend with a ‘shooter’ that has barricaded himself in the ICU after ‘shooting’ two hospital visitors and staff members in the ICU waiting area. While the live-action simulation will take place in the facility’s ICU, the exercise is tailored not to interfere with patient care in any way.
“Given the events of January 2012 in Fort Oglethorpe, we thought there was a need for an exercise like this,” comments Dale Solomon, director of the Parkridge East Hospital Emergency Department. “While this is knowledge that we hope we never have to use, we think it is very important that everyone knows what to do in the event of a shooting incident in the facility.”
For more information about the exercise, contact Alison Counts at (423) 495-1835.