Nebraska Medicine holds drill for an inevitable disaster scenario in Omaha: a mass shooting event

Actors posing as mass casualty victims at the Doubletree Hotel help out in a frightening drill for Nebraska Medicine

Nebraska Medicine held a drill to prepare for a growing, frightening, and very real phenomenon that's happening all across the nation, an act of terrorism, which even a quiet Mid-Western town, like Omaha, isn't immune to these days.

The drill was held to prepare Omaha for another worst
case scenario

Hundreds of doctors, nurses, and staff from Nebraska Medicine attended a seminar and practice drill at the Doubletree Hotel to simulate exactly such an event on Friday to prepare for such a worst-case scenario.

The possibility is very real these days, even in Omaha, because it's happened before even in a city as quiet and serene as Omaha, Nebraska.

In 2007, one such event occurred at the von Maur Mall where an active shooter left nine people dead in a deadly shooting spree.

"Doing a drill is the best way to prepare everyone for the real-life event," said trauma program coordinator Ashley Emmel. Those who attended went through scenarios that showed the real-life struggles that could one day be back on their doorsteps.

"There wasn't a lot of practicing," said Emmel. "This is what it would look like. Of course, the victims will be praying and screaming and asking you to help them."

The drill was organized by Emmel and is a reminder to everyone to prepare for a new wave of very disturbing mass casualty events that is not only a recent national phenomena, but one that has become more and more a global one that could happen anywhere in the world.

"We're not isolated here, we're not alone here in Omaha," said Emmel. "We've already had an incident before and so we need to be prepared."

"It kind of helped give the people inside the classroom an actual realization of some of what happens when patients arrive at a hospital," said Wendee Brown.

But is anyone really prepared when the real thing happens? It's a frightening prospect, especially when many experts now concede that it's a matter of when and not just if.

References: 

• WOWT—Nebraska Medicine holds drill to prepare for mass shooting (10/14/16) with video