UNC-Asheville will hold an emergency drill on campus Wednesday. An active shooter scenario will be played out. David Weldon is the emergency management director for the university. He says they evaluate all responses during the drill, but there are a few things in particular he and his team will put some extra focus on this time around. “Can we set up a call center to take in information from family and friends that may be coming into the university? We will show that and our ability to do it", Weldon says. "Can we have a family gathering center where family members will come and get information about their family member?”
Mission Health will also play a role in the drill according to Weldon. “The hospital is going to use this as a ‘surge exercise’. So we’re sending 65 patients to the hospital to see how they would react with that many patients coming in in a normal day", he says.
The university’s Bulldog Alert emergency system will also be activated during the drill, meaning faculty, staff, and students will be receiving text and email notifications throughout. For those who live in the vicinity of the school, that also means they may hear warnings broadcast from loudspeakers on towers and from emergency ‘blue light phones’ stationed across campus. If you hear them, remember – don’t panic. It’s just a drill.