Video: Louisville Still Healing After Tornado

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LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — A deadly EF-4 tornado hit Louisville exactly three months ago.

One of the places effected — Winston Medical Center on Highway 14. Damage to the hospital, nursing home, and a facility for renal dialysis patients is taking some time to fully recover from.

Tornado damage to Winston Medical Center was significant. Even medical instruments were affected, and temporary facilities were brought in by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Winston Medical Center Interim Chief Executive Officer Paul Black says it’s going to take more time to fully recover.

“And it’s going to take anywhere from 18 to 24 months to get the hospital facility back on its feet — either at that location or another one. We are looking at all our options to see what’s in the best interest of us, Winston County, and the citizens that we take care of,” said Paul Black, Winston Medical Center-Interim CEO.

Outpatient flow is down slightly, but inpatient traffic at their temporary location is down significantly.

“Right now, ER wise, we were seeing about 750 a month. We saw 600 in June. Outpatient wise we were seeing about 650 outpatients a month. We saw 395 in June,” said Black.

And so three months later, people in Louisville and Winston County, and the medical personnel at WMC have made the best of a bad situation. The mountain of recovery is still high to climb.

“It’s looking like WMC will be back. It may not look exactly the way it did before the tornado, but it will be back providing the same type of excellent services that we had before,” said Black.

Bounce back from the April 28 tornado is being considered as a major construction project.