Highlands Regional Medical Center in Sebring, Fla., recently held a disaster drill, coordinated to give county crisis-response employees, first-responders and staff a hands-on experience of what would take place in the event of an actual crisis situation, according to an article on the Highlands Today website.

The emergency preparation event is held twice annually and is required by The Joint Commission for national healthcare and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to keep hospital and first-responders ready for action should the need arise.

The 'crisis' situation began around 9:50 a.m., when units from the sheriff’s office and the police department responded to calls of “shots fired” in the hospital’s emergency room.

Prior to the event, participants in the drill weren’t told of the scenario beforehand so it would be as authentic as it could be in a real-life situation, the article said.

The goal of the semi-annual emergency drill is to look for ways to improve response time and actions, according to a hospital spokesperson. A report of how the drill went would be sent to the Joint Commission and the Health Care Administration.

Read the article.