VIDEO: Hospital Staff Remember Tornado 3 Years Later

WINSTON COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Three years ago, a deadly EF-4 tornado ravaged Winston County. Homes and businesses were destroyed and so was Winston Medical Center.

Many workers were there when the twister hit. They were also there today at ribbon cutting ceremony at the new facility.

“I’ve got up and cried already twice here this morning,” says WMC Seniors Director Lacey Vowell.

For many, it was an emotional day.

“You know, it’s like having your heart ripped out, this is part of my family, WMC, all the staff and it was heart wrenching,” says Vowell.

For staff like Vowell, they remember April 28th, 2014 starting just like any other.

“The start of the day, it was a beautiful day, beautiful sun shining, and then all of sudden about 4 o’clock, it started turning bad, we knew the tornado was coming, we had been getting warnings about it for a couple of days, so we were prepared,” says Vowell.

But nothing could’ve prepared them for what was ahead.

“It happens we know tornadoes happen, it just never happens here,” says WMC CEO Paul Black.

But it did, and it destroyed everything in its path.

Like Vowell and Black, many of the hospital staff had families of their own to worry about.

“I have two children that were actually in the line of the storm as well. It’s hard, you wanna be a mama, you wanna be with them. But I also had these people, the residents and the staff that were my responsibility to take care of, so I had to trust that the people my children were with were gonna keep them safe so that I could do my duty here,” says Vowell.

“Now I wasn’t really worried about my personal stuff I was more worried about my responsibility and what I needed to do,” says Black.

And that’s exactly what they did.

“Stay focused, stay centered. We knew we had a hundred and fourteen people we had to take care of and that’s what we focused on and their safety was our main priority and that’s what kept me calm,” says Vowell.

The amount of damage was shocking.

“My first thought was, well we’re gonna be down for about a week or so and we’ll get things cleaned up and we’ll be ready, but I did not realize the extent of it until you get out and start walking around,” says Black.

Three years later the hospital is finally opening it’s doors.

“For those of us on that day, we can look back and see the pictures of that tornado coming across and know exactly where we were when that tornado hit, and then to look exactly where we are today… our hearts swell with pride,” says Vowell.

And Black is wearing the same tie he wore the day destruction struck.

“Putting the tornado behind us, the community putting that behind us. We don’t always want to be defined by that tornado, we want to be defined about how we reacted to it. And the thought just came to me to try and use this tie to try and symbolize doing that,” says Black.

Today was an open house walking tour for the public; the hospital officially opens on Monday.

Categories: Local News

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