21
COM Outlook . Fall 2013
Within minutes, the gut-churning
sounds of the approaching tornado
began to fill the room, causing those
inside to become eerily silent. “It
sounded like someone was holding a
very powerful suctioning device over
the building, as if we were inside a
vacuum cleaner,” Dr. Moy-Brown
explained. “The lights, including
the emergency lighting that had
remained on, finally went off. Then
there was just silence and darkness
as particles of insulation and dust
descended on us from the ceiling.”
Once the tornado had passed, the
grateful survivors left the safety of the
fast-track area to survey the dam-
age, assist the patients, and enact the
hospital’s emergency protocols. As
she walked toward the emergency
room, a sense of shock spread through
Dr. Moy-Brown as she surveyed the
surreal scene. “The ER was completely
destroyed,” she said. “If we had
remained in it, there would have been
grave injuries and loss of life.”
Operating by instinct while also
following well-honed hospital pro-
cedures, the medical and ancillary
staff swiftly responded. “There was
an emergency plan in place for such
situations because Oklahoma is not
new to natural disasters such as
tornados,” she stated. “Some adjunct
staff members, which included the
nurses and technicians, were sent to
find a secure way out of the building.
We also stationed staff members with
flashlights at points along the escape
route and began directing and wheel-
ing patients out of what was left of
Moore Medical Center. The patients
were then relocated to the adjacent
Warren Movie Theater parking lot,
which was a safer area situated away
from gas leaks and debris.”
Gathering whatever supplies were
available, the medical team quickly
coordinated an impromptu treat-
ment area that allowed physicians
such as Dr. Moy-Brown to triage their
patients and determine if there were
any further injuries resulting from the
tornado. “Once emergency medical
services (EMS) arrived, we began the
process of transferring patients out
to surrounding hospitals,” she ex-
plained. “With the disaster supplies
brought by EMS, we then set up a
formal triage center for the walking
wounded who were sure to begin
showing up at the hospital.”
The decision proved to be a pru-
dent one because residents from the
surrounding communities were un-
aware that Moore Medical Center had
been virtually destroyed by the mur-
derous twister. “It was very moving to
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.
Dr. Moy-Brown (left)
and a colleague
survey the damage as
they await the arrival
of the emergency
medical services team.
