Chat with Deb—Which Way Do We Run?
Of course I will protect my wife… but…
ME: So there was a news item about the Highland Park shooting on the 4th of July, and a local doctor who ran toward the shooting.
DEB: Was he a combat medic or something?
ME: No, he’s an obstetrician. He likes to watch the Independence Day parade because he could see “his kids” that he delivered growing up and marching in the parade. So when the gunman started shooting, his first thought was to get his family clear, but then he knew he had to go help his kids.
DEB: That’s… wow, good for him! But that must have been awful for him, he’s not used to those sorts of wounds.
ME: “Horrific” was the word he used. Yeah. Anyway, I was wondering, since you know how I like to talk about these things beforehand, if we find ourselves in a situation like that, do we run to or from the gunfire?
DEB: Okay, you had military training—
ME: I was in submarines and computers. The most blood I ever saw was as a teenager in the boat crash with my father.¹
DEB: Exactly. We aren’t trained to help as first responders.
ME: Okay, but we’ve had basic first aid. Stop the bleeding, apply pressure on the wound, treat for shock, immobilize the victim, figure out who needs immediate attention when the first responders do show up. If there’s still an active shooter, help people get to cover. We can do that.
DEB: Okay, fine, if it’s you and me. What if we have family with us?
ME: Then… you get the family members as far away as possible. I go assist.
DEB: And if there are too many family members? Or they’re all kids?
ME: Then we both get the kids to safety.
DEB: Okay. I’m good with that.
ME: Thanks, honey! Hopefully we’ll never have to worry about it.
But these days, who knows?
¹In that incident, I was tossed off the boat when it slammed into the shore in heavy fog. When I got back on board, one of the passengers had a major head wound, and those things bleed. With the slight tilt to the boat, there was blood running across the deck and into the drains. I was fifteen at the time, which meant I”d had Boy Scout first aid training not many years before, so I used the boat’s kit to stop the bleeding. Almost exactly like a training scenario from scouts, so nothing a teenager couldn’t handle.
