As one of your constintuents in Lebanon, I am writing to you today to request that you vote NO to House Bill 1253.  I am a Family Nurse Practitioner by training, and am currently the President of the Indiana Association of Occupational Health Nurses.

Subjecting school staff to projectiles during active shooter training is not wise.  Training-related injuries are likely to occur causing a rise of worker's compensation claims and added expense to our school systems which are already struggling with budgets.  Most of these injuries will be physical which will resolve over time, but for the emotionally vulnerable, they may experience lasting, PTSD-type symptoms.

In healthcare we train, train, and train again on many emergencies, and none of them involve us intentionally getting hurt to make the scenarios more real.  Frequent, repetitive training on the subject of active shooters including various means of learning (watching videos, doing drills, etc.) is more likely to be beneficial than a once-yearly or single instance of being shot at with a pellet gun.

Thank you for your time.  Should you wish to have further discussions with me on this or any topic, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Sarah Hewitt

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