Archbold’s Mitchell County Hospital Hosting Active Shooter Drill

On Thursday, October 20, Archbold’s Mitchell County Hospital will hold an “active shooter” drill, during which hospital staff will simulate a response to an overhead announcement of Code Silver.

Code Silver is the hospital’s non-clinical emergency code used to alert staff and visitors of an active shooter, anyone engaged in trying to kill others with any type of weapon, on the hospital campus.

“It’s extremely important that our staff knows how to respond in real emergencies that could affect the safety and well-being of our patients, visitors and employees,” said Seth Maxwell, Archbold emergency management coordinator.

Archbold frequently holds drills to remind staff how to respond to internal emergencies or disasters such as fire, extreme weather and infant or child abduction. In addition, the hospital routinely partners with local law enforcement and first responders to simulate external events such as chemical spills and mass casualty events that, in real life, would result in enacting the activation of a county-wide emergency management plan. The hospital has worked with first responders and community partners for weeks to prepare for this drill.

“It’s important that we evaluate our policies and test our procedures regularly to ensure the safety of our staff, patients and community,” said Maxwell. “We have met with local law enforcement and city and county officials in preparation for the upcoming exercise and look forward to assessing the lessons learned.”

The drill will take place at Archbold’s Medical Group of Mitchell County. The scenario will involve Archbold Emergency Management, Archbold Security and Mitchell County Emergency Management Agency. Law enforcement and first responders will respond to the hospital’s call to E-911, arriving on the scene to assess and control the simulated situation.

“We will also be testing our mass notification systems during the drill,” said Maxwell. “Archbold employees may receive a text or phone call alerting them of the scenario; however, we want to stress that this is only a drill, and we will be in full control of the situation. We will also use our social media pages to test the ability to disseminate information quickly to the community.”

For more information on the Code Silver drill, please call Seth Maxwell at 229.551.2199.