![]() ![]() They were limping, bleeding, crying, terrified, with debris and glass sticking out of them, just thankful to be alive. Patients were coming into the ED in droves. That’s the only way that I can describe what we saw next. We didn’t know if it was safe to look for the rest of the staff, patients, and assess our losses. Terrified, we looked at each other and thanked God that we were alive. The hospital had just taken a direct hit from a most powerful category EF-5 tornado. The whole process took about 45 seconds but seemed like an eternity. We could feel a tight pressure in our heads as the tornado annihilated the hospital and adjacent medical center. Worried and scared, we suffered in complete darkness. Water pipes broke showering down on everything. The ceiling caved in with a crash above us. The whole structure shook and vibrated as we heard glass shattering, light bulbs popping, walls collapsing, people screaming. We heard a loud horrifying sound, like a huge locomotive ripping through the hospital. Together, Shilo and I trembled and huddled under a sturdy desk. I ran with a pregnant registered nurse, Shilo Cook - while others scattered to various places - to the only nearby space without windows, a small doctor’s office in the ED. a security guard screamed to everyone, “Take cover! We’re about to get hit by a tornado!” We were to start taking patients to safer spots within the ED and hospital. I learned that a “Code Gray” was being called. ![]() At approximately 5:30 p.m., we received a warning that a tornado had been spotted. Things were normal for the first hour and a half. Nothing could ever have prepared me for what was going to happen on this most fateful of days. As I drove to the hospital I mentally prepared for my shift as I always do. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin. For me, May 22 started like any other day: waking up, eating, exercising at the gym, showering, and going to my 4:00 p.m. You never know that it will be the most important day of your life until the day is over. I have never been in a tornado or personally witnessed its devastation. ![]() Although I work in Joplin and went to medical school in Oklahoma, I live in New Jersey and “commute” to St. It destroyed most of our hospital, much of our city, and killed more than 140 people. That day one of the most powerful and deadliest tornados in the history of the United States struck our medical center. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday, May 22, 2011. I was one of two Emergency Department (ED) physicians who were on duty at St. ![]()
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