Crisis system installed at UMC

University Medical Center has installed a state-of-the-art crisis management system that originally was designed to help law enforcement defuse and prevent further injury or death during school shootings.

The system, known as Rapid Responder, is computer-based and instantly links police and fire officials with satellite images, interior and exterior photos of all buildings, and floor plans of a facility in a crisis, said Tod Miller, UMC’s manager of public safety.

The system also identifies the locations of utility shut-offs and hazardous chemicals.

For example, should a disgruntled employee or patient walk into UMC with a gun and hold people hostage, law enforcement and emergency responders would know where that person was in the hospital and what tactical approach they should employ even before they make it to UMC.

In the past, responders would have had to wait until they were at the scene.

Gary Sabol, a spokesman for the system’s developer Seattle-based Prepared Response, Inc., said the system was designed after the April 1999 Columbine High School shootings.

“Some police officers went to Colorado to talk to law enforcement about their experiences and to find out what information ... responders need in any sort of an emergency,” he said.

To date, UMC is one of two hospitals in the country to install the system. The other is in Glendale, Ariz.

Cheryl Persinger, a spokeswoman for UMC, said the hospital used a $25,000 federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to purchase the system.