Marietta hospital hit by tornado, ER destroyed
Mercy Health Love County hospital in Marietta was hit by a tornado around 11:30 p.m. Saturday causing significant damage to the 25-bed critical access hospital. Mercy co-workers moved 10 patients to safety before the tornado hit and, thankfully, no one was injured.
After the storm, all patients were transferred safely to other area hospitals. Mercy Love County hospital and the clinic on campus are closed for the foreseeable future. The building is not safe for patient care.
“We are so grateful for our heroic co-workers who moved patients and visitors to safety before the storm hit,” said Scott Callender, administrator of Mercy Health Love County. “We regularly train for severe weather, so our co-workers were ready and knew what to do.”
Leaders from across Mercy visited impacted areas on Monday to ensure Mercy is doing everything possible for co-workers and the community.
Around 150 Mercy co-workers serve in Marietta. Mercy’s human resources and local operations teams are working together to support Mercy co-workers impacted by the storm across southern Oklahoma. Many also experienced personal damage to their homes and vehicles.
“Our focus is taking care of our people because they are so crucial to our organization,” said Catherine Codispoti, Mercy’s chief people officer. “We want our co-workers to know their jobs are secure and we are working through plans to support and redeploy them while we work through next steps in Marietta.”
Mercy leaders are working on how to continue providing care to a community in need. More details will be shared as they develop.
