Plain language replaces color-coded alerts at some hospitals

I was sitting at Carolinas Medical Center last month when an ominous-sounding voice came over the loud speaker: "Security alert. Threat of violence. Levine Children's Hospital. 10th floor. Avoid the area." The female voice repeated the warning three times, causing everyone in my meeting to stop talking for a few seconds. We weren't in the children's wing, so we went on with our business. And some time later, the voice returned, repeating the message with an "All clear" at the end. In the past, the message would have been in code: "Code Grey. Levine Children's Hospital. 10th Floor."