Drill for mass shooting response planned at Blue Ridge Regional Hospital

PRESS RELEASE: Blue Ridge Regional Hospital is teaming with local law enforcement in a drill to practice responding to a mass shooting inside the hospital.

The active assailant drill will be held Oct. 4.

A man pretending to be the shooter will enter the lobby of the hospital and go to the second-floor medical-surgical area. He will simulate shooting multiple victims until law enforcement officers apprehend him.

The mock shooter will be wearing a vest identifying him and he will be surrounded by others wearing vests identifying them as drill participants.

Most patients are not expected to see the activity.

The hospital will hand out cards explaining the drill to patients who might notice it. Each card will have a coffee voucher on the back.

The Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office and the Spruce Pine Police Department are participating in the drill.

This exercise will provide participants with an opportunity to assess capabilities, plans, policies, and procedures.

It will focus on decision-making, coordination, and integration with other organizations during an active assailant threat.

The goal of the exercise is to increase knowledge of safe management of an active assailant.

“Staff at Blue Ridge Regional Hospital are prepared should such a tragedy strike our community,” said hospital President and Chief Nursing Officer Becky Carter. “This drill will give staff the chance to practice the skills needed to keep our patients, family members and caregivers safe during an active assailant threat.”

The exercise could generate communications over law enforcement and EMS radio channels.

BRRH and Mission Health are reminding everyone that this is just a drill and urging people to refrain from calling law enforcement or the hospital for information should they hear communications associated with the drill.

About Blue Ridge Regional Hospital

Blue Ridge Regional Hospital (BRRH), a member of Mission Health, is a not-for-profit community hospital serving Mitchell, Yancey, lower Avery and upper McDowell counties. Located in Spruce Pine, N.C., BRRH is a Critical Access Hospital operating 25 beds and has more than 300 employees, including 82 RNs. BRRH offers medical specialties to include emergency services, OB services, critical care, rehabilitation services and fitness center, cancer services, orthopedics, general surgical services, pain management, pediatrics and family medicine. For more information, please visit blueridgehospital.org.

SHARE
About Susan Foster
Freelance writer passionate about wellness and spirituality, clinical psychologist, avid hiker and reader. Follow me @susanjfosterphd

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

3 thoughts on “Drill for mass shooting response planned at Blue Ridge Regional Hospital

  1. bsummers

    Drill for mass shooting drill

    Direct all inquiries to the Department of Redundancy Department.

    • Able Allen

      Thanks for noticing that, Barry. I have made the headline less redundant.

      • bsummers

        After I posted that, I had to admit that it might not be a mistake – they could be holding a drill to prepare for the drill. But I determined that was unlikely…

        (H/T Firesign Theatre…)

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.