Ohio ’s Statewide Rescue Task Force Initiative

A normal day at work is abruptly changed when you are informed of an active shooter incident (ASI) at a school in a cozy, normally peaceful suburb. The initial report indicates that there are at least three adults and four children injured as you scramble to activate mutual aid and secure the manpower and medical resources for care of these patients with the possibility of more victims. Seventeen years later, shots ring out the high school of another serenely peaceful suburb. The gunman’s shower of bullets leaves three students dead, one paralyzed, and another injured with a guarded chance for a full recovery. As you place your irons in the car to go golfing with friends, your cell phone rings and it’s your daughter calling. Despite the fact that she lives out of town, the two of you have always been close and you connect by phone daily. Although you already had a conversation with her that morning, you answer the phone to share more giggles and dialogue. Instead you hear the sounds of mass hysteria and gunfire in the background, and your daughter is screaming that she’s trapped in a shopping mall with an active shooter. She pleads for your protection that you, as her father, have provided to her since birth. She tells you that she loves you before the connection is suddenly disrupted. The seconds before you answered her call, you were eager to hear her voice; however, now the abrupt silence resounds with the possibility that you may never see her alive or hear her cher...
Source: JEMS Special Topics - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Exclusive Articles Terrorism & Active Shooter Operations Source Type: news