Submitted:
Laurel, Miss. – August 13, 2024 – In the mid-morning hours of August 13, 2024, South Central Regional Medical Center held a multi- agency active shooter drill on the third floor of the hospital.
SCRMC conducts safety exercises such as this one quarterly. This is, however, the hospital's first active shooter drill. New data showing a rise in the number of mass shootings in the United States necessitated this specific type of drill.
The exercise was conducted through a cooperative effort among trained SCRMC emergency management officials, local law enforcement and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The drill was designed to ensure maximum authenticity and included the simulation of various specific shooting scenarios. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation there have been “229 active shooter incidents from 2019–2023. This represents an 89% increase in active shooter incidents (121) from the previous five-year period (2014–2018).”
The FBI data additionally indicated that 3% of shootings occurred in health care settings during the allotted period making healthcare facilities unlikely, but not entirely unsusceptible, to this type of attack.
“Emergency management is about anticipating potential dangers and forming a plan of action,” said EMServ Education Coordinator, Jessica Riels. “In the same way that we prepare for hurricanes, fires or other medical emergencies we ought to prepare for acts of violence, because statistically speaking they area just as likely.”
Hospital employees were aware of an upcoming drill but did not know the specific date or time of the drill until the day before the exercise took place. In preparation for the drill all hospital employees were required to complete an active shooter training exercise through the hospital's official online workplace learning platform.
SCRMC is one of the first healthcare facilities to conduct such a drill with DHS. This drill was closed to the public and did not interrupt patient care.
