“It’s an unfortunate part of our business that we spend a lot of time talking about this,” said Jack Markey, director of the Frederick County Division of Emergency Management.
Staff members in his department talk about how their drills and plans would perform in response to a mass casualty crisis like the Orlando attack.
“If that had been downtown Frederick, what would have been unique? What would have been different?” he said.
Markey’s colleagues are learning of the circumstances of the shooting in the news, but he said they will generally wait until investigators release an after-action report to consider how Frederick County’s first responders and law enforcement may need to update their training.
“We coordinate the planning and response efforts. But a lot of the information that we see out of events like this are typically not a broad nationwide threat. It’s an individual that makes a choice, and that’s what makes it so difficult for it to stop,” Markey said.
In the case of a mass-casualty event, such as the Orlando shooting or a multi-vehicle crash, Frederick Memorial Hospital follows a plan to call in more physicians and volunteers.
According to Dr. Rachel Mandel, assistant vice president of medical affairs at the hospital, an event like the Orlando massacre would activate additional staff members in the Emergency Department, operating rooms, intensive care unit and ancillary services such as the lab and blood bank.
“It is ‘all hands on deck,’” Mandel said in an email.
Their Hospital Emergency Response Team is made up of staff members who take on additional training sessions about emergency management and participate in drills.
Those drills sometimes include members of the community, such as Scout troops.
Around Frederick County, churches are putting together their own response to the Orlando attack.
“We’re just throwing our doors open; we’re a welcoming and affirming church,” said the Rev. Anjel Scarborough.
Her church, Grace Episcopal Church in Brunswick, put together a candlelit evening service Monday evening to send prayers to the victims and their families.
“To see anyone singled out for who they are or who they love, it wounds — wounds the spirit,” Scarborough said.
The Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ has organized a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening to honor victims of the attack.
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