Only the Beginning

So as I’m sure all of you know there was a “shooting incident” inside the walls of the Johns Hopkins Hospital this morning.  I wasn’t on campus today.  I’m sitting safely with my coffee and computer trying to decide what the best course of blogging action is.

I know that may sound unfair.  Why do I get to be at home, while my friends and co-workers are at the hospital trying to maintain the highest levels of excellence in patient care while fearing for their own safety?

As a student in the forensic CNS program here at Hopkins, I read a lot about bad things people do to each other, and I’ve seen many of them during my work and clinical experiences.  But it’s different when it happens in your space.  I’ve been in Baltimore for more than 2 years now, I’m not a city person and I wasn’t ever a big fan of Charm City.  But I always managed to keep the hospital and the city as separate entities in my mind, and I always felt safe in the hospital and at the school.

As I read the Facebook posts that state with nearly audible relief variations of “It’s over,” I can’t help thinking that I wish it were that easy.  I’ve done this before, and it has been my experience that while the immediate threat to life and limb may be gone, the long-term effects of an event like this haven’t even begun yet.

I hope that all of you who are still at the hospital are safe, and I know that the Hopkins community has the strength and perseverance to grow and learn from this horrible situation.