LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As mass shootings occur with greater frequency, hospitals and health care systems are conducting drills to prepare.
First responders and hospital staff in Las Vegas know what these kinds of situations look like firsthand having experienced the 1 October tragedy.
Minutes after the 2017 shooting, images of people driving themselves or bringing multiple victims in their cars to area hospitals surfaced
Following the tragedy, medical and emergency responders added a similar scenario to their preparation drill.
How the drill works:
EMS dispatchers begin getting calls regarding a mass casualty event. They then work with the ambulance crews on the ground to come up with a plan for transporting victims to local hospitals.
Those hospitals are then contacted to prepare for the influx of patients. Nurses and other healthcare professionals wait outside to assess patients and begin treatment immediately.
“We wanna make it as real as possible that way it truly stresses our system, stresses the county’s system and we can really think through every aspect that may come up in one of these instances,” said Cullen Brown, the chief operating officer at Southern Hills Hospital.
