CARMEL- The rear parking lots at Putnam Hospital Center resembled a war zone Wednesday when dozens of heavily armed police officers, EMT’s, paramedics, and other first responders converged on the county’s lone medical center for a report of a mass casualty incident.
This was only a drill.
With guns drawn, police entered through a rear entrance and climbed the stairs. Minutes later, they returned carrying “victims” to waiting ambulances, which rushed them away.
Putnam’s Chief lawman, Sheriff Brian Hess, described the training performed by the Sheriff’s Department Response Team and the Putnam County Rescue Task Force, along with the Westchester County Department of Public Safety’s SWAT Team along with members of the State Police, Brewster, Carmel and Kent Police Departments in addition to the SPCA Police, Putnam Bureau of Emergency Services and various fire departments and ambulance corps as being “invaluable.”
The Sheriff also thanked the Westchester County Department of Public Service Rescue Task Force for taking part. He lauded Putnam Hospital Center for the “integrated training opportunity. The ability to jointly train, as we do often, ensures that each team understands and knows the actions and movements of each other so that in a real-life scenario efforts and actions are seamless.”
Meanwhile, PHC President Dr. Mark Hirko Bruce lauded the county’s local police and emergency teams for practicing how an active shooter situation would be handled: “The drill was an important part of our plan to be ready for emergencies, and it demonstrated how much we care about safety. Even though we hope this never happens, we need to be prepared. During the drill, our team learned how to respond quickly and protect people in case of an emergency. We worked with local agencies to make sure the drill was realistic and thorough. Thank you to everyone for helping make our hospital safer.”
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