Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University Health System called in 20 physicians to Highland Park (Ill.) Hospital to treat victims of a mass shooting at a suburban Chicago Fourth of July parade, CBS News reported.
Police have identified Robert E. Crimo III, 22, as the person of interest who opened fire from a rooftop onto the crowd at the Highland Park parade, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Six people were killed.
Thirty-eight people were taken to hospitals, 25 of whom sustained gunshot wounds. NorthShore University Health System's medical director of emergency preparedness Dr. Brigham Temple said 19 of those gunshot-wounded victims were treated and discharged July 4 at Highland Park Hospital.
Two are still hospitalized, and others were transferred to other area hospitals. Highland Park Hospital was placed on lockdown immediately after the shooting and within 30 minutes, 20 physicians and nurses and support staff were brought in to treat the victims, who ranged in age from 8 to 85.
"There's been a lot of different events that have happened in the United States, and this obviously now has hit very close to home. It is a little surreal to have to take care of an event such as this, but all of us have gone through extensive training," Dr. Temple told CBS. "We go through a number of different programs, training. We practice for these events, even though we hope they never happen. So I think our team very admirably handled the situation today."
Before paramedics arrived, physicians and nurses in the crowd began triaging victims and applying pressure to wounds.
"I don't think I did anything heroic," David Baum, MD, an obstetrician who helped victims on the scene, told The New York Times. "I just did what a person who's a physician would do to try and help a little bit.