Last Saturday morning just an hour’s drive from Baltimore, Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, walked into UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pennsylvania, with a bag of zip ties and a semi-automatic handgun where, according to police, he quickly took the Intensive Care Unit staff hostage.

In less than an hour, the chaos was over and results gruesome: Five people were shot and wounded and a sixth, Andrew Duarte, 30, a West York Borough police officer was dead as was Archangel-Ortiz. By late afternoon, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro paid tribute to the “extraordinary bravery and courage” of health care workers and law enforcement who arrived at the scene. And by evening, Officer Duarte would be remembered at a candlelight vigil including his career roots in Maryland where he served as a seasonal police officer in Ocean City.

A 98-bed hospital known for its cardiac and digestive care departments serving southern Pennsylvania would seem an unlikely venue for such violence. Authorities have only vaguely described the suspect’s motivations and how it might be traced to earlier contact with the ICU regarding treatment of his terminally ill wife. But in reality, this was far from the first time a hospital was targeted for violence. In 2023, for example, a similar shooting in Portland, Oregon, at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center left a security guard dead and doctors and nurses scrambling for cover. Last year, a man shot two corrections officers in the ambulance bay of an Idaho hospital.

Whether or not Archangel-Ortiz truly was motivated by his wife’s terminal illness, this situation reveals a multifaceted issue: Our health care system is failing Americans and we are suffering from a national mental health crisis.

Between 2015 and 2023, the number of Americans who were presently undergoing treatment for depression increased from 10.5% to 17.8%. In 2022, it was estimated that 23.1% of all U.S. adults had some form of mental illness. Approximately 1% of Americans have schizophrenia, and 16.7% of Americans have a substance abuse disorder.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care workers face a far higher risk of workplace violence than other professions including law enforcement or roughly five times the national average. This is not merely a reflection of our violent times but perhaps a symptom of a broader problem. Jam-packed hospital ICUs and emergency rooms have become a busy crossroads for Americans in conflict and out of sorts — from armed repeat offenders to individuals with serious mental health problems — and the inadequate medical care and increasing mental health crisis are only worsening the problem.

There have been all sorts of attempts to apply a bandage to this open wound. Medical care facilities have hired guards and require visitors to go through security check points including metal detectors. A majority of states have passed laws increasing penalties for attacking health care workers. It’s not uncommon for hospitals to apply special film or install security panels to windows to slow bullets. All may help but none address the core problem of dealing with a society that is plagued by a health care and mental health crisis.

Baltimore hospitals and other medical care facilities may well be vulnerable to violence. This is a city that continues to struggle with crime and there is a plethora of health care institutions including Johns Hopkins Hospital. Health care is not just a major Baltimore employer, it’s a fast-growing one — the Maryland Department of Labor observed last year that the number of jobs at local hospitals and related care facilities is expanding at twice the national average even as the state’s overall economic growth has been largely stagnant.

While it’s fair to protect our doctors, nurses and technicians, how about finding a cure to our ailing health care system and ailing Americans? The sooner we expand mental health resources and health insurance coverage — and perhaps improve, not reduce, Medicaid so that it truly provides a safety net — the safer hospitals like UPMC Memorial or Hopkins can become for patients, visitors and employees alike.