20
COM Outlook . Fall 2013
By Scott Colton, B.A., APR
COM/HPD Director of Medical Communications and Public Relations
ay 20, 2013, started out as just another ordinary day
for Terry Moy-Brown, D.O., a 2009 NSU-COM alum-
na who was in the midst of completing her final year as
an emergency medicine resident at Moore Medical Center
in Moore, Oklahoma. With her mind focused on the day’s
tasks that lay ahead, Dr. Moy-Brown arrived at the hospital
ready to tackle whatever came her way.
What she couldn’t have anticipated on that seemingly
mundane Monday afternoon was the deadly arrival of a
two-mile-wide EF-5 tornado that touched down around
3:00 p.m., carving a devastating swath of destruction
across the city and killing dozens of people in the process.
Even more terrifying was a fact unknown at the time,
which was that the monstrous cyclone was about to set its
sights on Moore Medical Center.
When the emergency sirens began blaring their warn-
ing, Dr. Moy-Brown immediately leapt into action by
quelling her own fears and transitioning into crisis mode.
“I was very concerned for the safety of our staff, the pa-
Dr. Terry Moy-Brown Provides Critical
Care in Moore Tornado Aftermath
M
Twister
Turmoil
tients, and myself,” admitted Dr. Moy-Brown, who was
seven months pregnant at the time. “However, there was
little time to feel when action needed to be taken, so we
immediately began to enact emergency plans. We also had
to simultaneously care for the patients that were currently
in the emergency room. We had an asthmatic child in the
ER at the time, so I continued to give orders for breathing
treatments as long as I could.
“We then moved the patients and staff to the center of
the building, which is known as the fast-track area. Since
the hospital did not have a basement, it was the most secure
inner portion of the building because it is away from all
sides and windows and located on the first floor,” she add-
ed. “Once the staff members, the patients, and their charts
were secured in the middle of the building, my attending
and I finally sat down while one of the adjunct staff mem-
bers walked around and directed people to stay calm and to
go ahead and pray if they had any spiritual beliefs. I heard
others quietly sobbing, including my attending.”
