Opening Up About Threat That Closed Down ASC
'I have a gun and I'm coming to shoot up the place, so be ready.'
T
uesday is the busiest day for orthopedic and pediatric surgeries at
The Surgery Center in Franklin, Wis. The 5-OR ASC was already
teeming with activity — patients with nerve blocks in their shoul-
ders, anxious parents in the waiting room and staff scurrying about —
when the phone rang at about 8:15 a.m.
The woman on the line sounded a bit older ... and a bit off.
"I have a gun and I'm going to come shoot up the place, so be
ready."
The receptionist hung up the phone, rose from her chair and walked
over to the cubicle where her boss happened to be seated to tell her
the news.
"I called 911. Then I told the business office staff to go lock all the
doors," says Fawn Esser Lipp, RN, BSN, CNOR, CASC, the ASC's
executive director, recalling the events of the third Tuesday of last
month.
Ms. Lipp was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher when the first
police officer
arrived. Just then,
the phone rang. The
receptionist recog-
nized the number
from the threatening
call 10 minutes earli-
er. The officer told
the receptionist to
calmly answer the
phone and mouthed
a series of questions
8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 1 7
Editor's Page
Dan O'Connor
InstaPoll
O
S
M
Agree or disagree: Healthcare workers should
be allowed to carry guns in the workplace.
Strongly agree 23%
Agree 12%
Unsure 8%
Disagree 19%
Strongly disagree 38%
Outpatient Surgery Magazine InstaPoll, n=824