First responders hone skills in active-shooter drill

With increasing social instability creeping through the nation, more doors are being locked, car keys are no longer left dangling from the ignition, and security cameras are being installed nearly everywhere.

The sense of security has been challenged, and even in Mineral County uneasiness is felt.

Last Sunday, Mineral Community Hospital offered a free six-hour workshop to all local first responders who would hear and learn about tragic scenarios that have happened, and what roles and responsibilities EMS, fire and law enforcement took in the situation.

Angela Visintin is the Trauma Coordinator for Mineral Community Hospital and coordinated this day of training.

“I actually had the idea of an active-shooter drill before the active shooter happened," she said, referring to the hostage situation in St. Regis in March. "And then I said, ‘Yep, we have to make this happen, now.’ We involved our Emergency Preparedness Coordinator to make this a bigger event and test our equipment, reaction time and emergency communication, and now it’s here!”

The Superior QRU had advanced and basic EMT training. Both the St. Regis and Superior volunteer fire departments had people in the class as Visintin said all of the information for the day was new to everyone.

Some knowledge has been tweaked a little from years past. Some field-tested shortcuts were explained and then there is new equipment available for medical emergencies. Mass casualty tents were set up just before the active-shooter drill inside the hospital, which went on full lockdown through the entire facility.

The hospital trauma team simulated having a quick response unit transport a critical patient from Superior Elementary School where the staff did a trauma mock code.

The workshop was intended to introduce all Mineral County Emergency Services organizations to a higher level of response and field medical care. It taught the most current tactical medicine and active shooter response curriculums used at the national level.

The programs were adapted from military special operations and the workshop was taught by one of the operators who was intimately involved in the development and implementation of the tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Nate Morrison is a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Special Operations and Intelligence communities. He is a special operations, law enforcement, and EMS instructor and consultant.

Presently, he teaches tactical medicine, active-shooter response and tactical operations in Northern New England. He is also the Director of Special Projects for RIKR Strategic Protection located in Missoula.

“I’ve been teaching medicine like this for 20 years. Today is an introduction to Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) which is how to treat victims, say as in an active shooter situation. The reason is you have to think differently in those situations,” he shared. “These guys are trained to perform their tasks in a very set specific manner assuming the scene is safe and they don’t have anything else to worry about. So, when bullets start flying or a gas leak is exposed or a roof begins to crumble on them, you have to change everything about the way that you think, the way that you act."

"You still need to treat patients to the best of your ability but sometimes that means the best medicine is superior firepower. Sometimes it means you can’t do anything until you get trench-shoring in. Or even stabilize a collapsed structure. What can you do in the meantime because we need to get them out and to a hospital as fast as possible. You are not necessarily providing the full gamut of care that you could, you are doing only what you need to do in conditions like these,” Morrison stressed.

At the end of an intense day, Morrison wanted to be certain that students had become much more familiar with Rapid Triage, TECC and Rural Active Shooter Response.

The Mineral Country Sheriff’s Office and Superior Area Ambulance Service did not participate in the training day.