Atlanta

Las Vegas shooting provides a lesson to local trauma center

By Aaron Diamant
By Aaron Diamant

ATLANTA — The deadly attack in Las Vegas has leaders at Grady Memorial Hospital’s trauma center going over their mass casualty playbook.

Grady is one of four level one trauma centers in metro Atlanta.

“It’s in our blood, and we wish we were out their helping them,” said Grady Hospital Trauma Medical Director Dr. Mark Shapiro.

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It's an understandable urge from Shapiro after his colleagues in Las Vegas scrambled to treat hundreds of victims from Sunday’s horrific mass shooting.

“The ability to become overwhelmed very quickly is something I think about, and I’m sure that went through their minds as well,” he said.

Shapiro admits mass-casualty events can keep those in his line of work up nights.

“I don’t know if you’re ever truly prepared. You know, we plan and we plan, but to be prepared for something like that, you never know until it’s tested,” he explained.

But in the same breath, he exuded an air of confidence.

“The fact is, we know who what are, we know what we do," Shapiro said. “Once they get in here, this is our environment, this is our wheelhouse.”

While Grady is our area’s main level 1 trauma center with two trauma surgeons on duty 24-7, 365 days a year, Shapiro told us metro Atlanta hospitals together can handle 500 adult and an additional one hundred pediatric patients.

“That’s resources, and probably the most precious resources we have here are people, and so, nurses and techs who really keep the machine rolling.”

That medical machine is a safety net for million which is why Shapiro and his team are keeping a close eye out west looking for any takeaways to add to their playbook.

“There’s always something to learn. Sometimes the lessons are small, sometimes the lessons are big, but no lesson should be overlooked,” he said.

Cox Media Group

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