— A mock hostage situation Monday helped test emergency room response, effectiveness of Muskogee County’s new E-911 system — and the patience of Muskogee Civic Center workers.

City of Muskogee Emergency Management Director Jimmy Moore said a citywide drill, which began at about 10 a.m., simulated a hostage situation and shooting at Muskogee Civic Center. Moore said the situation involved a barricaded suspect taking hostages at the Civic Center.

Participants included Muskogee Police Department, Muskogee Fire Department, City of Muskogee Emergency Management, Muskogee Civic Center, Muskogee County Emergency Medical Service, Muskogee Community Hospital, Muskogee Regional Medical Center, Wagoner Emergency Medical Service and Muskogee County Health Department.

Indian Capital Technology Center nursing students, bearing simulated wounds, portrayed casualties

“We wanted to make sure we can communicate through the new E911 system and we wanted to see how many people it would take to stress the hospitals,” Moore said.

The countywide E911 system, which went into operation last summer, brought the county’s various law enforcement, fire and emergency medical systems under one radio system and one building.

“We did not have to have multiple radios” during the drill, Moore said. “We could just switch to police, then emergency management, then EMS.”

The drill also helped show Civic Center employees what to do in an emergency, Moore said.

“I learned not to panic and how to run and get help,” said Civic Center manager Cassandra Gaines. “Three of my employees were shot and taken hostage.”

Gaines said she called 911 when she saw people with guns running through the Civic Center’s front door.

“I called them and said it was just a drill,” Gaines said.

That sent a Muskogee Police Department Special Operations Team storming into the Civic Center.

Shortly after 10 a.m., a busload of casualties arrived at MRMC’s emergency room. Nurses and other workers scrambled to get them in and treated. The “victims” had varying types of injuries — gunshot wounds, shrapnel in legs and chests, facial cuts.

Two were “dead” on arrival, said MRMC safety officer Kyle Kuhns. “Then we had five in stable condition, four in guarded condition, four in critical condition.”

Another hovered between critical condition and death, Kuhns said.

“Our priority was treating not just a number of patients, but different acuity of patients,” Kuhns said, referring to a patient’s level of illness or injury. “We had to treat a number of patients in critical condition.”

Kuhns said the drill involved the entire hospital staff.

“Our own success depended on the staff responding appropriately,” Kuhns said.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at (918) 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.