As fire alarms blared and smoke billowed from the 16th floor of Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center where a gunman had set himself ablaze after shooting seven people on Friday, hospital workers rushed the injured to the emergency room and got to work.

On the battlefield, medics refer to the golden hour, the initial 60-minute window that is crucial for getting trauma victims into treatment. Even more significant is the platinum ten, the first critical minutes that can mean the difference between life and death.

The quick care given to those wounded by the gunman, identified by a police official as Dr. Henry Bello, who had worked at the hospital, may prove to be the most important factor in whether they survive. A doctor was killed in the shooting before Dr. Bello killed himself.

Beyond the rush to treat the victims, other doctors and hospital staff members sought to comfort patients and continue to provide care for more than an hour while the hospital was locked down.