RESCUE RADIO: THE HERO HAMS OF THE JOPLIN TORNADO
Some high drama has emerged in the aftermath of the tornado that ripped
through Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday night May 22nd. It's a story of
true ham radio heroism as supplied to us by Patti Flowers-Palmer,
KD0AEL, and Amateur Radio Newsline's Don Carlson, KQ6FM, has the
details:
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Patti Flowers-Palmer, KD0AEL, tells Amateur Radio Newsline that it was
on Sunday evening, May 22nd while a young amateur was finishing with
post Skywarn Net Control duties that a voice was heard calling for help
over the 146.91, W0EBE, repeater. Caleb Burns, KD0BWT, responded to
that call. It was coming from the Freeman Hospital in Joplin,
Missouri. The news it carried was that a devastating F5 tornado had
destroyed much of the community as well as its regional medical
facility.
In that exchange, crucial medical supplies were ordered and medical
teams were called to duty. Initially, the call was made by an
Information Technology person at that location. He was relieved by
Thomas Ellicott, N0EKP, who deployed to assist his own stricken
community.
As that transmission was taking place, Steve Palmer KA0SPM, and his
wife Patti KD0AEL, Andrew Brashers KD0HUN and Jonathan Rinty KD0OSF,
all who had been deployed as Skywarn spotters, responded by driving to
Cox South Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. Meantime, Tom Hargis
WX0SML and Jamas Justice, KD0GUU, both of whom had been deployed with
Skywarn, drove to St. John's Regional Medical Center also located in
Springfield. Both of these hospitals are regional Medical Centers for
Southwest Missouri.
Upon arriving and finding that the radio rooms near the Incident
Command Centers were void of any amateur equipment, operators at both
locations began relaying information from doctors and nurses from using
their own mobile radio gear. This, to begin the crucial process of
moving injured from the overwhelmed Freeman Hospital to several
Springfield trauma centers.
With immediate needs met, the hospitals worked with the amateurs to
provide locations for the operators to set up mobile radios as base
stations so that communications could continue. One was located in an
incident command at St. John's and the other in the ambulance bay of
Cox South. As this was occurring, KD0BWT grabbed a handie-talkie and
headed for Ozarks Community hospital where he established mobile
command. A short time later, Pat Conway WA6JGM and Clifton Smith
KC0SQU responded by taking a mobile unit to Ozarks and setting up a
more permanent station at that location.
The amazing band opening that had allowed the initial communications
began to fade and KA0SPM deployed to the National Weather Service in
Springfield where he relayed messages via the 145.21 repeater. That
machine had survived the tornado that ravaged other parts of the
Joplin area.
According to KD0AEL, before the night was over, there was a tremendous
outpouring of offers from amateurs over the entire area who offered any
assistance they could provide to keep communications flowing. During
the week that followed, a number of hams continued to call to offer
assistance and they were directed to the coordinators of the CERT
search and rescue efforts.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Carlson, KQ6FM, reporting from
Reno, Nevada.
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As a side note, Patti says that the operator that received the first
transmission was on his honeymoon but had been acting as net control
for the Greene County Skywarn. Talk about total dedication to duty.
(KD0AEL)