Joplin One Year Later: `You can`t imagine the devastation,` say EMSA responders

May 20-- Being among the first emergency responders to a disaster like the Joplin tornado one year ago is overwhelming, but two veteran EMSA paramedics who went to the site said they were well prepared.

In his 19 years with EMSA, paramedic Joe Ringer has seen many disasters, including other tornado strikes. It's still surreal to experience, he said.

"The first feeling is simply, 'Wow,'" he said. "You can't imagine the devastation. Once we're past that initial shock, we focus on our job and move ahead."

Pushing their way through slow traffic, Ringer and 15-year EMSA veteran Jason Whitlow arrived in Joplin late that Sunday evening, the day the EF-5 twister hit.

Both have received special disaster training about how to work without assistance, treat certain types of traumatic injuries and manage themselves during the first difficult hours.

Their first assignment was to help evacuate patients from a community center where those being treated at the destroyed St. John's Regional Medical Center were staying. It took them a while to find a place to refuel before they got a couple hours of sleep in the back of the ambulance.

They were up at 6 a.m. to take a patient to a hospital in Fayetteville, Ark., and also helped rescue a woman from her basement. She had fallen while sorting through the wreckage of her house and was in danger of drowning after heavy rains flooded her basement.

Whitlow had never responded to a disaster of this scale and said he learned the first 24 hours are particularly chaotic. He is confident that emergency personnel in Tulsa could manage the same type of disaster.

"It's what we train for," he said. "It's what we're ready for."

Shannon Muchmore 918-581-8306

shannon.muchmore@tulsaworld.com

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