Five nurses and four nurse practitioners from Benefis Teton Medical Center and seven emergency medical technicians spent about an hour on June 17 at BTMC and a Choteau residence, practicing their response to a mock domestic shooting involving three minors.
Four of the EMTs were from Choteau, three were from Dutton and one EMS student also participated. Deb Coverdell, Teton County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) director, and Deputy EMS Director Dominic Streich oversaw the exercise.
BTMC disaster coordinator Amanda Copenhaver, who also serves with BTMC’s radiology staff, said the goal of the exercise was to test and train for an active shooter situation. She said it was focused on pediatric patients, training and testing around them because BTMC does not, thankfully, have to treat a lot of pediatric traumas. Copenhaver said the staff focused on the topic when putting the exercise together.