Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston is working to boost awareness about active shooter protocols among its staff. This November, employees screened a 10-minute training video on what to do if, for example, a man storms into a hospital waiting room, pulls out a gun and demands to see a doctor.
According to a CBS Boston report, “It seems like an every other day occurrence now, so we need to make sure we’re prepared in the unlikely event,” says the hospital’s Security Director Robert Cicharello.
Because hospitals are designed to be a welcoming environment for patients and their visitors, they remain vulnerable.
The training video instructs employees to run first, or, if they can’t, hide and lock-down in a room. As a last resort, they are told to fight however they can.
“If we start talking about it, people start thinking about their environment,” says hospital employee Andrew Madden after watching the video. “Hopefully we can protect ourselves if it does happen.”