Active Shooter Drill Conducted At Sheridan VA Medical Center

The Sheridan Veterans Affairs Medical Center successfully completed an active shooter drill with Sheridan County and other local partners, as part of Wyoming National Guard Exercise Vigilant Guard 23-3 on Monday afternoon (June 12th).

The exercise is continuing in several counties across Wyoming this week, but Monday marked an opportunity for agencies to work together for an emergency response at the medical center.

Monday’s event included a multi-agency response to an active threat on the campus.

Following law enforcement response, the medical center activated its hospital incident command system (HICS), an incident management system which assists hospitals and healthcare organizations in improving their emergency management planning, response, and recovery capabilities for unplanned and planned events.

The exercise allowed participants to engage in the scenario through the lens of incident management, benefitting all of the agencies which took part.

Sheridan County Emergency Manager Jesse Ludikhuize shared the importance of the exercise.

“This was a great opportunity to learn from and work with our federal and local partners if the worst was to happen,” said Ludikhuize. “The exercise went very well, and we learned some valuable lessons. We are better prepared today, after this exercise, than we were a week ago.”

Likewise, the VA’s emergency manager, Gene Hale, also expressed appreciation for the collaboration.

“We have a requirement to train for the ‘worst-case-scenarios’ regularly,” said Hale, “but there is no better way to train for these situations than by working with all of the entities we would if something happened for real. I’m proud of the way my VA teammates performed, though also look forward to improving our processes from things we learned today.”

Monday’s scenario involved Sheridan VA Health Care System staff working with the Wyoming National Guard, Responders Training Services, Campbell County Health Regional Medical Services, Sheridan County Public Health, Sheridan Police Department, Sheridan Fire Department, Sheridan Memorial Hospital and Wyoming Highway Patrol that all collaborated and supported efforts to ensure maximum benefit from the event.