In newspaper pictures, it rose out of the flattened rubble, one of the only buildings left standing. In the 2011, the outer building in Joplin remained intact. Windows - the very things that make the new Festus hospital wing seem so different than the old - are the feature that make hospitals the most vulnerable. Since then, the health company has strengthened its construction methods and disaster plans to include storm-resistant materials and backup generators. “We plan for if we lose power, if we lose water, we plan for a lot of emergencies, but we never plan to just lose everything,” John Farnen, Mercy’s vice president of facilities said of the Joplin tornado.īut in the Joplin storm, the Mercy hospital did lose everything. For Mercy officials, creating modern-day fortresses is essential to keeping the communities they serve safe. Mercy has hospitals through Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, in the middle of Tornado Alley, where these violent storms are most frequent. Since then, Mercy has made it a mission to build safer hospitals, with stronger windows, walls and power sources. Six people died in the hospital that day. Louis-based based Mercy health system after one of the most destructive tornadoes in recent memory hit St. Making its new hospitals safer has become a top priority for St. But Mercy Hospital Jefferson is safer, too. The atrium still smells of fresh paint, and instead of dark, winding hallways, windows let in natural light.īuilders designed it to be prettier and more user-friendly. A visitor to the new wing of the Mercy hospital in Festus can likely tell immediately where the old building ends and the new part begins.
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