news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Moore County emergency officials spoke to colleagues across the state Wednesday morning about the many lessons they learned from their response to the killings March 29 at Pinelake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. 

A gunman entered the Carthage center and opened fire on what had been a peaceful Sunday morning, leaving eight people dead and three others wounded.

“It started out as a normal sunny day, a little breezy, and all of our crews were running normal until we got a call that a gunman had broke into Pinelake ... going room to room,” Bryan Phillips, EMS chief with Moore County Public Safety, told those gathered for the Emergency Medicine Today conference at Koury Convention Center.

 “When I heard the call (I thought) that someone went in, shot a family member, shot themselves or left the facility. I had no idea we were running into an eight-victim shooting.”

Emergency officials put ambulances in place to respond  once the center was secured by police.

The town of Carthage had one officer on duty that morning, Justin Garner, who went into the nursing home alone and was able to shoot and arrest Robert Stewart, who was charged in the shootings. Garner suffered pellet wounds to the leg.

Dr. Matthew Harmody, an emergency physician with FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, described the scene at the hospital, where the staff had no idea how quickly they would be swarmed with patients.

The hospital was unusually packed with patients that Sunday morning, and some had to be moved to make room in the emergency department as ambulances started rolling in.

Officials described how the hospital was put on lockdown shortly after the shootings, the efforts to coordinate response with law enforcement, inquiries from patient families and the media.

They gave hour-by-hour recaps of how they managed the crisis that day and in the weeks that followed, which included debriefing sessions for all first-responders involved, as well as the community.

Phillips said the mass shooting exposed the need for better communications from EMS workers to the hospital about the number and injuries of trauma patients en route, as well as for long-term monitoring of employees dealing with the emotional aftermath.

The crisis also showed a need for evacuation plans for nursing homes. Emergency crews had difficulty telling patients from visitors as they were being relocated.

Harmody said the hospital learned that it needed better communication with public safety officials and surrounding medical centers in the wake of mass casualties, as well as better planning for management of patient care and resources.

In all, officials said, teamwork led to smooth management of the crisis, though there is always room for improvement.

“I hope you never have to experience an event like this,” Harmody said. “This is what we train for and we put our resources to work and it worked very smoothly.”

 Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com