Elmhurst Hospital officials, along with the city’s Police and Fire departments, hope practice makes perfect should they ever be faced with a real-life active threat — an incident, which by its deliberate nature, creates an immediate threat or presents an imminent danger.
“The hospital has to be prepared for unexpected events,” said Sherri Hill, associate vice president of quality and patient safety.
Hills said some public safety and hospital representatives were able to view a full-scale active threat exercise Wednesday on monitors.
“This exercise showed us where we have opportunities,” Hill said. “We want to know how we handled everything and look for ways where we can improve.”
The scenario had Elmhurst police Sgt. Steve Mandat in the role of a man angry because his wife had died the previous night while a patient, and he wanted to speak with a hospital administrator for answers to his questions.
The man became more and more angry and frustrated as he made his way around part of the hospital building, finally walking into the administration area.
He brandished a gun and directed two women, who work in the administration area, into an office there.
After several minutes of conversation between the man and the two women, time spent on the phone and his asking for an administrator, police officers forced their way into the office and shot him.
“I’m sure everything seemed to move very fast, but in real life, events move fast,” said Elmhurst deputy police chief Michael McLean. “The sooner you take control of an incident, the better the outcome if going to be.
“Hospital security did a fantastic job, and we got good information and updates from the hospital. The intelligence was good.”
Hill said all hospital staff goes through training for handling active threats. The full-scale exercise allowed learned procedures to be tried out.
“I knew it was a drill, but I had no idea what would happen,” Hill said.
Keith Hartenberger, the hospital’s public information officer, said extensive safety exercises are conducted a couple of times each year at Elmurst Hospital, which at any given time, has about 1,200 people inside.
“There are different types of safety exercises, some bigger than others, and each involves some different responses,” he said.
Twitter @chuckwriting
