Tornado leads to surge of new moms in Carthage

When disaster strikes, hospitals go into emergency mode as a general rule. But when disaster strikes another hospital, things can get a little crazy.

When St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin was hit head on by an EF5 tornado Sunday, patients were quickly evacuated and moved to other hospitals in the area, including McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in Carthage.

Freeman Hospital in Joplin took Priority 1 cases, while Priority 2, 3 and 4 came to Carthage and other hospitals in the area, according to Pam Barlet, director of community relations.

Many of those patients were expectant mothers.

“Since that night the birthing unit has triaged 23 patients and since that night they’ve delivered four or five babies,” she said.

The birthing unit at McCune-Brooks featured four labor and delivery rooms, where the whole process can take place. However, under the emergency overload, the hospital needed more rooms, and fast.

To do that, they needed help from GE Healthcare, the company that provides fetal monitoring systems.

“The computer system itself is used in the labor and delivery area to monitor the moms and babies to ensure their safety,” explained Tamara Grassle, general manager of GE Healthcare. “It’s really something that’s needed, especially in a disaster like this when the moms are stressed.”

Complications ranging from high blood pressure to premature labor can be identified and monitored with the system. “You need to be able to assess what’s going on with those moms,” Grassle said, speaking from her office near Chicago.

Barlet said the hospital contacted Grassle, adding, “They came through in a heartbeat. What normally takes about 90 days, they did in 24 hours.”

“With what happened in Joplin, when we got word that the hospital had actually been hit, our tech support team immediately went into action,” Grassle said.

They tried to contact St. John’s, which, of course, was impossible. They did reach the corporate office, though, and from there were able to obtain patient records.

When McCune-Brooks started receiving the patient overflow, Grassle said, “The hospital there was being overrun. Too many patients, not enough equipment to monitor them all.”

Within hours, Grassle said, six employees had volunteered to take over the project. James Hale, who is based in Excelsior Springs, Mo., drove four hours to Carthage to do the on-site work, while Michelle McNinch from the Dallas, Texas, area started work on the computer configuration.

Ironically, she did the work on her laptop while huddled in a pantry during a tornado watch in Dallas.

“For myself as general manger, it’s very easy for me to go through and direct people on what they’re supposed to do,” Grassle said. “On this, I didn’t have to do a thing. It makes me very proud of the people on this team.”

Barlet said the birthing unit added four complete labor and delivery rooms, and there are additional triage rooms where babies can be delivered if necessary.

Not a moment too soon, either.

One woman had been scheduled to have her labor induced Tuesday at St. John’s. She came to McCune-Brooks Sunday night. “She came in with high blood pressure after watching the news,” Barlet said. Since then, she has delivered her baby.

Now, Barlet says, “We’ll be able to handle the Joplin patients that don’t, at this point, have anyplace to deliver their babies.”

“Physicians for Women are a big part of that,” she added. “They’re working almost nonstop to help these ladies.”

She also credits hospital emergency room Dr. John Kelly, who helped process the women through the emergency room Sunday night.

“I’m sure some of those 23 women were just ladies who could not get a hold of their regular physicians,” Barlet said.

Others, however, were “skinned up,” Barlet said, and some had even worse injuries. All of them were scared.

“Our patients’ stories are making me cry,” Barlet said, reflecting on the disaster. She has not yet been to Joplin.

“Everybody I’ve talked to says you just can’t believe it. The photos don’t do it justice,” Barlet said.

But she is proud of the McCune-Brooks staff.

“We have basically stepped up to the plate,” she said. “Our physicians just stepped up and took care of them.”

While the story of the birthing unit may be the most dramatic, Barlet said it wasn’t the only area of the hospital affected.

The hospital, a critical access facility, obtained special permission to double the size of the emergency department Sunday night as well. As a critical access center, the hospital is limited to 25 beds, but received approval from CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) to upgrade temporarily.

“If we need to stay this way for a year until St. John’s gets rebuilt, or two years, then we can do that,” Barlet said. “We’ll be here as long as they need us.”

The size of the infusion center (used mostly for rheumatology) and medical-surgery units also doubled, Barlet said, explaining that the hospital expanded the areas that seemed would be of most benefit to Joplin.

Thursday McCune-Brooks lifted its emergency status order, which means previously scheduled elective procedures and appointments will go on as scheduled, and all clinics are back on schedule.

“They are all willing to accommodate immediate health needs as quickly as possible,” Barlet said.

She listed specifically Dr. Jon Haffner, who will see patients newborn to geriatric; the neurology clinic, which will accept call-in patients from Joplin; pediatrics, who will provide tetanus shots, refill children’s medications, and see patients who are sick or have minor wounds; and rheumatology and cardiology clinics, which will accept patients who need interim infusions or ongoing care.