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My little girl had outgrown most of her Sunday dresses, so I recently took her to the mall down the street in my quiet, award-winning family-friendly city, just miles outside of Baltimore. She stocked up on a few frilly dresses, then played for a while at the indoor playground. On our way out, we stopped and bought frozen yogurt and greeted friends we knew as they walked by – a typical, uneventful day in Columbia, Md.
Just a few days later, a seemingly ordinary young man entered the mall through the same door I had used, and strolled around unnoticed, lost in a sea of eager shoppers. The rest is history. He entered a store, rifle in hand, and shot and killed two young employees, viciously robbing them, and their loved ones of decades of precious hopes, dreams, and memories. This nightmare occurred right around the time my granddaughter arrived at the Columbia Mall to begin her shift at a children’s clothing store. Fortunately, she was not injured, at least not physically.
The week before, I was saddened to learn that a teaching assistant at my alma mater, Purdue University, ruthlessly slaughtered a fellow student.
Then, I learned that a college student a couple of hours away in Pennsylvania was arrested for possession of weapons of mass destruction.
When will the madness end? It won’t. People seem to be getting more cruel and violent with each passing day.
Whether a mall in the suburbs, a marathon, a movie theater, or a university campus, the number of senseless acts of violence are skyrocketing and, one day, some of us may be called upon to provide emergency care, when we least expect it. Sure, we function well in a hospital environment when the code team, anesthesiologist, and surgeon can be summoned in a matter of seconds, but how many of us are prepared to meet the challenges of a catastrophe in our communities, in our schools, and in our social settings?
If faced with a catastrophic situation, our medical instincts would likely kick in, and we would do whatever is needed to help those in need – stabilize the spine or control the bleeding in trauma victims – but what if we are not sure what to do? What if the 911 operators are overwhelmed by terrified callers fearing for their lives?
The Centers for Disease Control maintains an Emergency Operations Center that can assist health care providers with emergency patient care: 770-488-7100. The CDC’s Clinician Outreach Communication Activity (COCA) works to ensure that clinicians have the up-to-date information they need about emerging health threats. It has posted "Emergency Preparedness: Understanding Physicians’ Concerns and Readiness to Respond," a very informative page full of resources to learn about a variety of scenarios and what we can do. (Some COCA information sessions qualify for continuing education credits.)
Local poison control centers may be of benefit in certain emergency situations as well. The National Capital Poison Center help line – 800-222-1222 – is the telephone number for every poison center in the United States.
This time, the chaos was in my backyard. Next month, God forbid, it may be in yours. No one expects unforeseen emergencies to happen, but knowing where to turn may just make a seemingly impossible situation a little more doable.
Dr. Hester is a hospitalist with Baltimore-Washington Medical Center who has a passion for empowering patients to partner in their health care. She is the creator of the Patient Whiz, a patient-engagement app for iOS.
My little girl had outgrown most of her Sunday dresses, so I recently took her to the mall down the street in my quiet, award-winning family-friendly city, just miles outside of Baltimore. She stocked up on a few frilly dresses, then played for a while at the indoor playground. On our way out, we stopped and bought frozen yogurt and greeted friends we knew as they walked by – a typical, uneventful day in Columbia, Md.
Just a few days later, a seemingly ordinary young man entered the mall through the same door I had used, and strolled around unnoticed, lost in a sea of eager shoppers. The rest is history. He entered a store, rifle in hand, and shot and killed two young employees, viciously robbing them, and their loved ones of decades of precious hopes, dreams, and memories. This nightmare occurred right around the time my granddaughter arrived at the Columbia Mall to begin her shift at a children’s clothing store. Fortunately, she was not injured, at least not physically.
The week before, I was saddened to learn that a teaching assistant at my alma mater, Purdue University, ruthlessly slaughtered a fellow student.
Then, I learned that a college student a couple of hours away in Pennsylvania was arrested for possession of weapons of mass destruction.
When will the madness end? It won’t. People seem to be getting more cruel and violent with each passing day.
Whether a mall in the suburbs, a marathon, a movie theater, or a university campus, the number of senseless acts of violence are skyrocketing and, one day, some of us may be called upon to provide emergency care, when we least expect it. Sure, we function well in a hospital environment when the code team, anesthesiologist, and surgeon can be summoned in a matter of seconds, but how many of us are prepared to meet the challenges of a catastrophe in our communities, in our schools, and in our social settings?
If faced with a catastrophic situation, our medical instincts would likely kick in, and we would do whatever is needed to help those in need – stabilize the spine or control the bleeding in trauma victims – but what if we are not sure what to do? What if the 911 operators are overwhelmed by terrified callers fearing for their lives?
The Centers for Disease Control maintains an Emergency Operations Center that can assist health care providers with emergency patient care: 770-488-7100. The CDC’s Clinician Outreach Communication Activity (COCA) works to ensure that clinicians have the up-to-date information they need about emerging health threats. It has posted "Emergency Preparedness: Understanding Physicians’ Concerns and Readiness to Respond," a very informative page full of resources to learn about a variety of scenarios and what we can do. (Some COCA information sessions qualify for continuing education credits.)
Local poison control centers may be of benefit in certain emergency situations as well. The National Capital Poison Center help line – 800-222-1222 – is the telephone number for every poison center in the United States.
This time, the chaos was in my backyard. Next month, God forbid, it may be in yours. No one expects unforeseen emergencies to happen, but knowing where to turn may just make a seemingly impossible situation a little more doable.
Dr. Hester is a hospitalist with Baltimore-Washington Medical Center who has a passion for empowering patients to partner in their health care. She is the creator of the Patient Whiz, a patient-engagement app for iOS.
My little girl had outgrown most of her Sunday dresses, so I recently took her to the mall down the street in my quiet, award-winning family-friendly city, just miles outside of Baltimore. She stocked up on a few frilly dresses, then played for a while at the indoor playground. On our way out, we stopped and bought frozen yogurt and greeted friends we knew as they walked by – a typical, uneventful day in Columbia, Md.
Just a few days later, a seemingly ordinary young man entered the mall through the same door I had used, and strolled around unnoticed, lost in a sea of eager shoppers. The rest is history. He entered a store, rifle in hand, and shot and killed two young employees, viciously robbing them, and their loved ones of decades of precious hopes, dreams, and memories. This nightmare occurred right around the time my granddaughter arrived at the Columbia Mall to begin her shift at a children’s clothing store. Fortunately, she was not injured, at least not physically.
The week before, I was saddened to learn that a teaching assistant at my alma mater, Purdue University, ruthlessly slaughtered a fellow student.
Then, I learned that a college student a couple of hours away in Pennsylvania was arrested for possession of weapons of mass destruction.
When will the madness end? It won’t. People seem to be getting more cruel and violent with each passing day.
Whether a mall in the suburbs, a marathon, a movie theater, or a university campus, the number of senseless acts of violence are skyrocketing and, one day, some of us may be called upon to provide emergency care, when we least expect it. Sure, we function well in a hospital environment when the code team, anesthesiologist, and surgeon can be summoned in a matter of seconds, but how many of us are prepared to meet the challenges of a catastrophe in our communities, in our schools, and in our social settings?
If faced with a catastrophic situation, our medical instincts would likely kick in, and we would do whatever is needed to help those in need – stabilize the spine or control the bleeding in trauma victims – but what if we are not sure what to do? What if the 911 operators are overwhelmed by terrified callers fearing for their lives?
The Centers for Disease Control maintains an Emergency Operations Center that can assist health care providers with emergency patient care: 770-488-7100. The CDC’s Clinician Outreach Communication Activity (COCA) works to ensure that clinicians have the up-to-date information they need about emerging health threats. It has posted "Emergency Preparedness: Understanding Physicians’ Concerns and Readiness to Respond," a very informative page full of resources to learn about a variety of scenarios and what we can do. (Some COCA information sessions qualify for continuing education credits.)
Local poison control centers may be of benefit in certain emergency situations as well. The National Capital Poison Center help line – 800-222-1222 – is the telephone number for every poison center in the United States.
This time, the chaos was in my backyard. Next month, God forbid, it may be in yours. No one expects unforeseen emergencies to happen, but knowing where to turn may just make a seemingly impossible situation a little more doable.
Dr. Hester is a hospitalist with Baltimore-Washington Medical Center who has a passion for empowering patients to partner in their health care. She is the creator of the Patient Whiz, a patient-engagement app for iOS.