Code Silver drill prepares Archbold for mass casualty event

Published 11:25 am Saturday, July 26, 2025

THOMASVILLE — Archbold Memorial staff, in conjunction with local law enforcement and first responders, partook in a “Code Silver” drill on Wednesday morning, simulating a response to an active shooter in the Emergency Department.

According to statistics, active shooter events have increased by 600% in the United States since 2009, and hospitals have not been immune to these shootings. On average, there is one hospital shooting event each month in the United States, with more than 154 hospital shootings taking place over the past decade.

Due to the rising concern, Chris Newman, Vice-President of Clinical and Support Services at Archbold, thought this simulation would be timely and appropriate for the Archbold staff to remind them how to respond to internal emergencies.

“Annually, we assess what our largest threats are geographically, and we saw that healthcare-related active shootings are as high as school shootings,” Newman said. “We consider it to be third on our list of most likely threats.”

Due to Archbold’s location, the staff has simulated responses to hurricanes, tornadoes, and train derailments. However, Newman saw the response to active shooters had become watered down, with the staff not having engaged in that scenario in nearly four years.

“We’ve done active shooter drills with the school systems and in Pelham, but we haven’t had one in four or five years on this campus with our staff,” he said.

The drill involved a gunman entering the Emergency Department before gaining access to the patient care area. Once in the patient care area, the gunman simulated shooting multiple nurses and individuals before eventually barricading himself in the staff lounge.

While the gunman was loose, staff were instructed to use their training to call for help using their emergency badges or the overhead intercom.

“The ED (Emergency Department) gets extensive training for all of this,” explained Chuck Winchester, Archbold Emergency Management Coordinator. “Doctors get this training on mass casualty events annually, and we review it with every new employee.”

Upon the call for help, the Thomasville Police Department arrived and began neutralizing the threat, while Unified Command Center was set up on the Archbold campus and the Joint Information Center at the Thomas County Board of Education.

The JIC (Joint Information Center) would be used as a reunification center for people to check on their loved ones, along with where media briefings would be held in the event of a mass casualty event.

During the simulation, Archbold’s marketing team developed a QR code that individuals could scan to upload pictures of their loved ones, so further information could be collected.

“We may not be able to identify individuals in a real event, so the pictures would help us figure that out,” Winchester explained.

When reviewing the day’s events, Winchester said communications will be a focus moving forward on the drills. “It’s all about getting the right information to the right person so they can make the right decisions,” he said.

Winchester acknowledged an example of what he discovered in the drill was the predetermined location for the Unified Command had limited communication capabilities because of the lead in the walls and x-ray equipment that interrupted radio and cell signals.

“We quickly adapted and overcame,” he said proudly.

Adapting to the unknown was also one of Newman’s focuses, as he watched the entire incident on camera.

Serving as the incident commander, Newman tried to adjust as the simulation progressed, reviewing whether he needed to call in more resources or supplies.

“It is important to know the situation in real time so that I can deploy and allocate resources effectively,” Newman said.

Part of the process that Newman and Winchester cannot simulate is the actual time it would take to clear the hospital. In the drill, the shooting, response time, and clearing happened within an hour, but in reality, Newman believes it could take hours for a true investigation.

“We know it would be an extensive event, before they gave us the clear, and it’s figuring out how to run a hospital when someone else has taken control of our building,” he said.

Overall, though Newman and Winchester were proud of the team, as was TPD Lieutenant Scott Newberry. “The drill went very well,” he said. “My officers were prepared. They came in, saw a situation, and handled it exactly the way they were taught to handle it.”

All parties involved will now continue to assess the safety plan and ways they can improve following the simulation.