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Mercy Health employees put skills to test during ALICE training

Mercy Health is helping their staff to be ready for anything, including an active shooter.
(Source: WTOL)

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Hospital employees are getting hands on experience with ALICE training.

Mercy Health is helping their staff to be ready for anything, including an active shooter.

Staff at Mercy Health St. Anne's were able to put their skills to the test during a mock intruder scenario.

"I can honestly say my mind was racing," said Kim Steele, a registered nurse at St. Anne's. "I just did what instinctively I thought I should do. Throw a book at the guy, get the gun out of the way, get him down on the ground. You just have to learn how to sort through your thoughts."

Together Mercy Health employees were learning just that. Officers from the Mercy Health Public Safety Department have provided ALICE training for years.

They say it's about the three to four minutes before police arrive on scene and hoping the hospital employees will know what to do with confidence from their training.

"Primarily we want them to get away from the scene that's the first thing we teach, get away from the threat," said Lt. Jason Patchen. "If for some reason
you can't get away from the threat we're going to teach you some techniques on how to barricade yourself in."

The hospital setting adds unique challenges like a large building and patients who cannot move freely. Officers say the building does have unique tools to help in emergencies and they teach several barricade options for the patients who are bedridden.

While some know how to give medical treatment, leaders also discussed the importance of tending to victims if someone were to get shot during Wednesday's training. It's simple to tend to a wound and you can save a life.

"We want to teach people how to intervene right away to help stop the bleeding because the bleeding is what kills our patients," said Nicole Knepper, the trauma education coordinator for Mercy Health St. Vincent.

Medical professionals say they treat everyone who comes to the hospital and never know where their next patient is coming from or about their past, so this training is invaluable.

"We have to be on the alert," said Steele. "You cannot be safe enough so having the opportunity to partake in this class I think will only do us good."

Mercy Health officers say their ALICE training sessions are for everyone in the community and they plan to organize other classes in the future.

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