This post was authored by Mike Scherlag, MD, FACC, Oklahoma ACC Chapter Governor.

Oklahoma is a close knit community.  The destructive tornado that gouged a path across the southern section of our city touched everyone.

It is routine to have bad weather in May. Conditions were ripe for turbulent weather.  Warnings had been given for days.  The same unstable atmospheric conditions that triggered the deadly, but much smaller, tornado in Shawnee on Sunday spawned a tornado over my house that was less reported. My wife was coming back from an amusement park on Sunday and I found myself on the phone directing ("turn south, head south") her away from the wall cloud that eventually transformed into a funnel that touched down on a new outpatient facility that our hospital – a part of the Mercy System – was building. There was enough damage that the opening was delayed for six months. Thankfully, there were no injuries. This storm was only the prelude of a much more frightening scenario that transpired the next day, Monday, May 20.

One of our anesthesiologists decided to take the day off on Monday to see the new Star Trek movie. He was at the epicenter of the storm. Anyone watching CNN has seen the devastated Warren Theater where he rode out the event.  It was too late for him to leave even though he had received text messages of the strengthening storm. The structure held together protecting him but the devastation outside the building was awe inspiring.

There was an intense effort to survey the damage and help those survivors who were trapped in the collapsed buildings. He was united with a first responder who reported that a woman was pinned with her arm under a steel beam that was thrown from the Moore hospital. She needed a field amputation to avoid exsanguination. One can only imagine how unqualified he felt but as a physician, he was far more qualified than anyone else on the scene.  Prior to the amputation, the fire department managed to find a hydraulic lift to give them the inch separation needed to slide her out.

Directly adjacent to the Warren Theater, we have our Moore clinic where patients were waiting to be seen. Our quick thinking office manager and staff gathered the patients from the waiting room into the break area which did not have any windows or outside doors. Steel from nearby structures pancaked the roof leaving only a small triangle of space for our patients and staff. Though the national news reported that there were no injuries in our office for presumed privacy issues, suffice it to say that no lives were lost; however, lives will be changed forever with more than mental scars. It was our anesthesiologist from the Warren Theater who assisted with the rescue of our clinic.

About 13 of our co-workers are homeless and some will be facing rebuilding again after losing a house in 1999. Damaged vehicles are common including my own; however, many cannot even locate their vehicles.

The path of destruction deviated from our south sister facility sparing the loss of another hospital with untold injuries.

Thank you to all for your thoughts, prayers and support.

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