Johns Is News Today

And right now we just have to start from scratch. you can help them start from scratch. here is how. log on to cnn.com/impact and check out our special page. it has all the tools you need to make a difference for those people in joplin. well, where do the sick and injured go when their towns main hospital is blown away by a tornado? were going to take you inside st. johns hospital in joplin, missouri, next. ♪

Outside and realized from the time you got in that bathroom to the time you got out, the world of joplin had changed. >> well, actually, you know, i just was trying to get myself out with desi. we got out. you dont think the rest of the world would disappear around you. at least i didnt. i wanted to get everybody. we were alive. i kept telling everybody, were alive. were okay. so we headed to the hospital. but when we walked outside it was a new world. everything was gone. everything was gone. a...

And right now we just have to start from scratch. you can help them start from scratch. here is how. log on to cnn.com/impact and check out our special page. it has all the tools you need to make a difference for those people in joplin. well, where do the sick and injured go when their towns main hospital is blown away by a tornado? were going to take you inside st. johns hospital in joplin, missouri, next. [ female announcer ] the healing power of touch

>> reporter: but in those dark clouds, a monster tornado was headed right for them. at st. johns it was the moment they trained for that they hoped would never come. >> we drill -- well, actually just by virtue of the fact that were in tornado alley down here, we prepare several times a month. >> reporter: but this was not a drill. >> it was a stormy day. we thought all was going well. >> reporter: angie abner was a nurse in the emergency room. >> of course, no one every thinks its going to happ...

>> reporter: if the worst happens. >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: and the hospital is at the center of the storm. >> oh, no. its the hospital. >> reporter: st. johns hospital, joplin, missouri, the biggest hospital for miles around. >> st. johns is a 230-bed acute care hospital. >> reporter: jim risko has been an e.r. doctor at st. johns for the last 17 years. >> this is a very, very sophisticated hospital in a relatively small town. >> i was down the road playing horseshoes. >> reporter: andrew m...

Trying to push the wheelchairs and everything through it to get people out. >> reporter: they wheeled his grandmother out of the hospital. then flagged down a passing car to drive them home. >> there was no crying. there was no screaming. >> reporter: the st. johns staff kept working. laser focused on their patients. >> we did what we had to do. and we all stayed, even though people were worried about their families. >> just a very short period of time we were able to evacuate over 200 patients ...

I didnt think anything of it. >> reporter: but in those dark clouds, a monster tornado was headed right for them. at st. johns it was the moment they trained for that they hoped would never come. >> we drill -- well, actually just by virtue of the fact that were in tornado alley down here, we prepare several times a month. >> reporter: but this was not a drill. >> it was a stormy day. we thought all was going well. >> reporter: angie abner was a nurse in the emergency room. >> of course, no one ...

>> went right through here. >> reporter: if the worst happens. >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: and the hospital is at the center of the storm. >> oh, no. its the hospital. >> reporter: st. johns hospital, joplin, missouri, the biggest hospital for miles around. >> st. johns is a 230-bed acute care hospital. >> reporter: jim risko has been an e.r. doctor at st. johns for the last 17 years. >> this is a very, very sophisticated hospital in a relatively small town. >> i was down the road playing horse...

Second floor and there was about ankle deep of water and we were trying to push the wheelchairs and everything through it to get people out. >> reporter: they wheeled his grandmother out of the hospital. then flagged down a passing car to drive them home. >> there was no crying. there was no screaming. >> reporter: the st. johns staff kept working. laser focused on their patients. >> we did what we had to do. and we all stayed, even though people were worried about their families. >> just a very...

St. johns that day, but miraculously, most survived. >> this is the new tower. this is the original hospital. >> reporter: two days later, for jim risko, its all sinking in. >> my hearts broken because my mom and dad died here. my son was born here. i have so many memories of working with the other doctors and the nurses and this is home. i mean, st. johns is more than a building. its a spirit. we are asking what so many people in the midwest are asking. why? why are there so many powerful and...