GREENFIELD, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Adair County’s only hospital officially cut the ribbon to mark the reopening after the tornado this spring.
The May EF-04 tornado killed four people and damaged hundreds of homes and businesses.
The hospital sits just feet from the tornado’s path. Hospital CEO Catherine Hillestad said, “I don’t think that there was a part of this hospital that wasn’t touched by the tornado in some aspect.”
Hillestad says the entire roof had to be replaced and the wind blew out most of their windows.
“The debris and the glass was embedded in our drywall so essentially we had to take everything down to the studs and then put it back up,” she said.
They had to move their clinic to the elementary school in the aftermath.
Hillestead says the community is eager for the hospital to reopen, because the next closest hospital is …