Hospital Response to Pulse Nightclub Shooting

The following are notes I took at the Partner's in Preparedness Conference. This event is held every year in Tacoma, Wash., and draws 400-600 attendees each year. The specific topic was the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016 from a hospital's perspective.

It was emphasized by multiple staff who experienced the event the need for continual training and MCI exercises (mass casualty incident). Their preparation on multiple aspects from processes, procedures and logistics of having the necessary supplies on hand. The information below is not a comprehensive accounting of everything they did, or what was presented. 

 

Pulse Night Club Shooting
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Eric Alberts, Hospital Emergency Manager


Only Level I Trauma Center, Orlando Health. Next trauma center is 77 miles away. They are a not-for-profit hospital. They were just down the block from Pulse.

Their team includes “protective services,” which is security. They have them in “Command Section” because of their importance.

What saved lives:

• Previous training
• Command structure
• Processes
• Supplies
• Review/survey survival results
• Trauma Alert simulation at least three times per month
• Regular drills, last one was March 2016. These are full-scale events

Timeline of Events:

2:00 AM The shooting started.
2:14AM First patient arrived at hospital. Initial surge of patients came via pickup truck
2:22AM Mass Casualty Incident MCI Shooting up to 20 patients
2:35AM Shooter contacted 911 from inside Pulse
3:07AM They had received 36 patients, one per minute
3:14AM HICS Hospital Incident Command System was established. Hospital leadership were well-trained in ICS.
5:13AM ORMC lock down. They have metal detectors
5:15AM Shooter is down
5:19AM Second wave of patients begin to arrive at ORMC
8:45AM Orlando Emergency Operations Center Activated, At level 3 (lowest level)
10:33AM Five operating rooms were functional
10:45AM Family area in ORMC conference rooms established.
10:47AM Orange County Emergency Operations Center Hotline for contacts.
10:57AM Spokesperson established
11:14AM Governor establishes State of Emergency
1:14AM Social media became critical
2:54PM Family without victims at ORMC moved to nearby hotel — (not a good situation)
4:00PM HICS Team 2 takes command
4:00AM HICS Team 2 resumes command
10:30AM CEO goes with FBI to try to identify the last person/patient not identified
10:52 Last patient identified — fingerprints used to ID.
2:10PM Governor visited hospital and came back for days. He also complicated things with bringing sports figures and entertainers to the hospital.
2:38PM HICS deactivated, but continued response for nine days

They had a total of 47 patients
They used 550 units of blood, total
Surgeries continue today as rebuilding bones continues.

The media is a huge factor. 300 media outlets in attendance. They made access into hospital difficult. Some acted as family members to get access. CNN alone had 100 staff at this event. This continued for two weeks.

People came and brought donated food that was turned away. Food safety issue.

They spent $5M on their response. No reimbursement from the state. Patients continued to come back with pre-existing conditions to get treatment.

They did not have an internal staff notification system, now in the process of acquiring one.

What will you allow your employees and staff to wear — as donations are made.

1,200 team members have taken advantage of counseling.