TACOMA, Wash. -- A recent mass casualty exercise by Madigan Healthcare System highlighted the hospital's readiness for an active shooter and a large number of casualties. It came the day of an actual incident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Md., where the real life situation mirrored the exercise at Madigan.
The goals of the exercise were to test Madigan's implementation of the National Incident Management System for emergency management and to test the increase in security forces at Madigan's hospital and clinics.
Implementation of the NIMS template has occurred at Madigan the past few years. The exercise was the first test of the emergency plans based on NIMS. Madigan's emergency management plans have joined most of the country in reorganizing based on NIMS, which was created after Sept. 11. NIMS standardizes emergency response nationwide. The system ensures a combined national effort is possible and that emergency responders can relate regardless of their location and background.
"We are moving forward rapidly with NIMS at Madigan," said Bill Llewellyn, emergency management coordinator for Madigan. "People are really starting to get it."
Llewellyn, explained the system challenges conventional military planning. NIMS places the most experienced person in charge of a specific incident, rather than the most senior leader.
"So, if there is a building fire do we want to place a hospital administrator in charge of the incident management or a fire chief'" Llewellyn said. "Obviously the fire chief is more experienced in that particular incident so we would lean on his on-scene leadership."
The second aspect of the exercise was the implementation of an active-shooter team within Madigan's physical security. Madigan's security forces were recently increased to 23 guards in response to extra personnel and beneficiaries at the hospital.
Security guards are also now carrying electroshock weapons, known more commonly by the name Taser. Madigan is one of the Army medical centers that started carrying the electronic control devices in late August. They are not a replacement, rather an addition to the options available to maintain physical security at the hospital.
The active-shooter team at Madigan is led by Lead Guard Chad Nix. Madigan maintains four active-shooter instructors in their security forces team and eight trained guards who can be members of the team. The fully-up-and-running program has been identified as one of the best in the Army Medical Command, according to Lynne Murphy, Provost Marshal at Madigan. The active-shooter program was started just over two years ago, but the need for it was amplified when the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas occurred.
"I would say we have the best guard force in MEDCOM," Murphy said. "We are lucky to have great command teams that have believed in us and given the OK to go forth and do what we need to do."
All of these efforts contribute to ensuring Madigan is prepared to provide a safe environment for our, staff and beneficiaries Murphy said.
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