South Florida Doctors Promise They're Ready Should Mass Shooting Take Place
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It wasn't even 10 months ago when a man got off a plane at a South Florida airport and went on a massacre in the terminal. South Florida trauma doctors were ready then, and promise they're ready now should a shooting on the scale of Las Vegas happen here.
"We are so busy. We do not necessarily have to do practice drills for mass shooting," said Ryder Trauma Center's Medical Director Dr. Nicholas Namias.
That is because about 25-percent of JMH trauma cases are penetration cases, mostly gunshot wounds. The 25-percent is one of the highest rates in the nation.
"We have the Army trauma training here because our civilian trauma comes the closest to simulating military trauma as you can get in the United States," Namias said.
At Jackson, they are five deep in trauma doctors in most Trauma disciplines. They have practiced procedures to gear up.
"Any trauma alert we get is really a drill on mass causalities," said Dr. Christopher Roberts.
On January 6, 2017, Broward Health got the big test. The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport mass shooting – five died, six others were gunshot victims and 36 others injured in the panic escaping the scene.
"We had a fair amount of people come in that were critically injured. We prepared for it. One of my colleagues said it was controlled chaos. It has to be because you do not know what is going to come through the door," Roberts said.
Could South Florida handle a major mass shooting? Most likely yes.
With triage management and six level two trauma units available, critical patients could be spread out.
Remember, Las Vegas had only one trauma unit at the University Medical Center.
"So if you think about it, shootings, what is really happening is a lot of what we do every day. So the machine is pretty well oiled," said Namias
