‘Run, hide, fight’ drill held at Grady Memorial Hospital

Feb. 21—No need for alarm, the police presence and sound of gunshots at Grady Memorial Hospital on Friday was just a drill.

Local law enforcement and Grady County Emergency Management participated in a “run, hide, fight” drill at the hospital on Feb. 16.

Grady County Emergency Management Director Dale Thompson said Grady Memorial Hospital was among the first hospitals in the state to participate in this kind of safety training.

An active shooter drill is planned for late March, Kean Spellman, Grady Memorial Hospital CEO, said. There will be a large presence of law enforcement and possibly helicopters involved in the drill. Local officials and media will be notified ahead of time to let the pubic know about the drill, he said.

Spellman said that while active shooters are more common at schools than hospitals, incidents have occurred. He referenced the June 2022 fatal shooting at a Tulsa hospital. A former patient was allegedly angry about pain from surgery and shot several healthcare workers and another person at the hospital before turning the gun on himself, according to a news report from The Washington Post.

Hospitals and healthcare workers face unique considerations during active shooter drills. Healthcare workers are trained to run toward danger. When someone is yelling for help, healthcare workers will often go to that space. The layout of hospitals, which often have several exits, is different from other spaces where an active shooter may strike, Spellman said. Moreover, law enforcement is not always trained for these kinds of incidents in a healthcare facility, he said.

“There’s a big denial, and we all probably have it, that it would never happen in this building,” Spellman said. “But it happened in Uvalde and everyone learned a lot of lessons. We just don’t want to be unprepared.”