About Emergency Preparedness
It’s time to change the way California thinks about disaster response. The COVID-19 pandemic showed that hospitals can quickly mobilize to provide flexible approaches to patient care during a disaster. The state must draw upon these lessons to prepare differently so the next crisis will be less severe. Given California’s size and complexity, the health care disaster response system of the future must be nimble enough to respond to any catastrophe. View more information on hospital disaster preparedness.
Code Active Shooter: Active Shooter Situation Response
Provided courtesy of Victor Valley Global Medical Center, this document outlines an emergency response plan to alert hospital staff that an active shooter appears to be actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in the hospital or on the campus.
Managing Mass Casualty Events: Lessons Learned from the Aurora Movie Theater Shooting
Lieutenant Stephen Redfearn, one of the first responders in the Aurora shooting reviews lessons learned from the Aurora Movie Theater Shooting. He served Aurora PD since 1999, and currently oversees and supervises the major investigation section.
“Active Shooter: What You Can Do”
All employees can help prevent and prepare for potential active shooter situations. This course provides guidance to individuals, including managers and employees, so that they can prepare to respond to an active shooter situation.
Active Shooter Webinar
This US Department of Homeland Security training webinar was created to enhance awareness of, and response to, an active shooter incident.
Run-Hide-Fight: Surviving an Active Shooter Event
The City of Houston produced a six-minute, graphic video on what to do when encountering an active shooter. The video is entitled “Run-Hide-Fight: Surviving an Active Shooter Event” and was produced with a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
CHA Checklist: Hospital Code Silver Activation – Active Shooter Planning
In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, CHA released the Hospital Code Silver Activation Active Shooter Planning Checklist to help hospitals review and develop active shooter response plans. The tool was developed with key advisement from agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety.
Active Shooter Drill Preparedness
The following resources have been provided by UCSF Medical Center to assist hospitals in their planning and training for active shooter incidents.
Health and Medical Response to Active Shooter and Bombing Events
National Academy of Medicine Discussion Paper Terrorist attacks have a profound emotional and physical effect on a community. While preventing these attacks would be preferred, agencies must work swiftly and cohesively to improve patient outcome when an attack does occur. Read full discussion paper.
Active Shooter Training Video
This instructive video from the US Department of Homeland Security demonstrates possible actions to take if confronted with an active shooter scenario. The video reviews the choices of evacuating, hiding, or, as an option of last resort, challenging the shooter. The video also shows how to assist authorities once law enforcement enters the scene.
Active Shooter Resources
The Security and Safety Active Shooter Drill Tool Kit was developed to create greater awareness of workplace violence among hospitals and health care facilities, and to provide the tools necessary for each facility to develop a plan that leads to a safer, more prepared environment.