FORDYCE, Ark. — While the words "protect and serve" can oftentimes be associated with police officers, after the deadly mass shooting at the Mad Butcher in Fordyce, those words were also put into action by the team working behind the scenes to treat victims who were injured.
"Our emergency department treats two to three gunshot wounds in a year, and in the time period of about 25 minutes, we had 12 gunshot victims to our four-bed emergency department," said David Mantz, CEO of the Dallas County Medical Center.
Many who enter the medical field describe the profession as their calling and after the deadly shooting happened at the Mad Butcher, it was a call that the team at the Dallas County Medical Center didn't hesitate to answer.
"It was a very hurtful and very terrifying day, and the team did an amazing job. All I can say is the need for this hospital becomes more and more evident when something like that occurs. If we had not had a hospital in this town, it would have been a much worse day and so we're grateful to do what we do," Mantz explained.
It was an all-hands-on-deck effort from not only his nurses, but the physicians, radiology lab, housekeeping, and most importantly the first responders who were on the scene within minutes.
"That triage is so important to get people where they need to be, to the services they need to be. We were able to do some scanning and some tests to make sure of who needed to go where the first and who needed to go to the right service that was available for one," Mantz added.
Mantz said although he and his staff have trained for moments like this one their entire lives, it takes a toll on you when you have to treat people you call your friends and neighbors.
"[It was] very emotional. Our team lost a team member, and they had to treat that team member when she arrived, so that's exceptionally hard," Mantz said. "Really, the perspective is that probably 80% of the people on that team knew every victim that came. In a town of 4,300, that's not hard, and they even knew the suspect."
He said the reward that came from the tragic incident was that they were blessed with the ability to help save as many lives as they could.
"It's a family here so the whole town has come together and done really well, but it's going to take time to heal," Mantz described.