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Mayfield nursing home leveled by tornado. The 'miracle' of how all 74 residents survived.

Lexington Herald-Leader - 12/14/2021

Dec. 14—With less than a 30-minute warning that a deadly tornado was heading to Mayfield, staff at the Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation began moving most of the 74 nursing home residents into the hallways of the nursing home at 401 Indiana Ave. in Mayfield.

They had practiced a tornado drill at 4 p.m. , knowing that a potentially bad storm was heading toward Graves County. But when the National Weather Service confirmed that it was a tornado and it was headed toward Graves County, staff jumped into action.

When the tornado hit Friday night, staff and residents hunkered down. Staff had already closed all drapes and moved everyone away from the windows. Many were clustered around the nurses station, the center of the building, which is laid out like an "X. There is no basement in the Mayfield nursing home.

Brandon Reeves, LPN, had to stop a nurses aide from heading into one of the patient hallways as the building began to shake.

"I shielded her and clutched the side railing," Reeves said.

Tina Ingrum, the social services director, was near the nurses station. "I saw the exterior doors move in and out. I knew it was coming."

Ingrum threw her body over a nearby resident as debris whipped past her.

In some parts of the nursing home exterior walls crumbled, ceiling tiles popped off, water lines busted and windows shattered. Insulation and dry wall was everywhere.

"I don't know how to explain it but I could hear the ends of the building just leave," Ingrum said.

A maintenance man had to wrestle part of a wall off one resident as the storm battered the brick building, sending 100-year-old trees through the nursing home's roof, staff said.

"It seemed like it was a short period of time but it seemed like it lasted forever," Reeves said. "It was horrifying to hear the building come apart and then hear my residents crying out for help."

After the storm subsided, staff and patients, many soaked from the rain that was now inside the building, did an assessment. Nearly 100 people, including residents and staff, were all alive.

Reeves said some residents that could not be moved were still in their rooms. One man was trapped underneath a bed. Staff made sure the man was okay but could not extricate him. They then went from resident to resident.

Most of the roof was gone. Many of the exterior walls had crumbled.

The only injury— a broken arm.

"It's a miracle we didn't have a death," said Hughs Ash, the administrator of Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation.

That's largely due to the staff there that night, Ash and others said.

"We have been talking about heroes for two years when it comes to staff at healthcare facilities during the pandemic," said Sarah Stewart, the regional director of operations for ClearView Healthcare Management, which operates Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation. "But this was something else entirely."

'We have been hit'

Reeves, Ingrum and other staff went from room to room, assessing patients and moving those to areas of the facility that were not damaged. It took several hours for search and rescue teams to make it to the nursing home and extricate the resident that was trapped under a bed.

It was also hard for other Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation staffers to get to the building.

Stewart, who lives about 15 minutes from the nursing home, had checked on the other nursing homes she supervises shortly after the deadly tornadoes struck Western Kentucky. Two other skilled nursing homes she supervises did not have power but had not been hit by the storms.

"I got a text from Mayfield that said: 'We have been hit,' Stewart said.

Stewart and her husband jumped in their truck.

Ash also got word right after the storm passed the nursing home had been hit. He was sheltering in place at his home not far from the nursing home.

But getting to the nursing home proved problematic. Mayfield and Graves County were among the hardest hit by a series of tornadoes that struck Kentucky Friday and Saturday morning. At least 74 people have died, 21 in Graves County. The record-long tornado caused at least enough damage to be categorized as an EF-3, indicating that there were wind speeds greater than 135 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. That classification could be upgraded as more analysis is completed.

"I had to park about a half mile away and hike in because all the roads were blocked," Ash said.

The amount of debris and destruction was disorientating. The power was out. It was hard to see.

"There weren't even any landmarks," Stewart said. "There were live power lines."

Once they got to the nursing home on Indiana Avenue, they had to quickly assess patients and staff to make sure everyone was okay.

"First we had to make sure that everyone was out of harm's way," Ash said. "We had folks in the hallway and it was raining on them."

They moved patients to other parts of the building that suffered less damage. They found a dry box of socks and began handing out fresh pairs to residents. Blankets were distributed. They had emergency water and snacks for all the residents.

"I was amazed at how calm the residents were," Stewart said. "Some were even cracking jokes with us."

Many of the patients at the nursing home have extensive health problems, Ash said. Some are on feeding tubes. Others are hospice patients. Others need oxygen.

They couldn't stay at the partially destroyed nursing home. They needed to move them.

'An unbelievable community effort'

Stewart's husband is a teacher at Mayfield High School. They called the school to see if any school buses were available. The school system couldn't get to their buses due to the widespread destruction in Graves County. Graves County School System had handicap buses that could be used. A local church also sent one of its buses.

"People also worked to clear the roads around the nursing home so we could get residents out," Ash said. "It was an unbelievable community effort."

ClearView's other nearby facilities also sent handicap accessible vans.

One van got a flat tire as it was transporting residents. The driver changed the tire, completed the transfer and came back and got more residents, Stewart said.

By 5:30 a.m. or 6 a.m., just as the sun finally came out, the last resident had been successfully transferred to another nursing home. Because they were all ClearView-operated nursing homes, all residents' medical histories are on the same computer system, making the transfer easier, Ash said.

Stewart said one nursing assistant who had spent most of the night helping transfer patients came back to the now destroyed nursing home at 5:30 a.m. and asked Stewart which of ClearView's still-standing nursing facilities she should go to next to help.

"We had a grandfather and grandson show up and help us," Stewart said. Their family member was one of the first to be evacuated and transferred, but the duo remained until 5:30 a.m. to help staff transfer the remaining residents.

Members of Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation staff who lost their own homes also showed up to help.

Stewart said one staff member lost two family members during the tornado.

"The care they have for these residents is just unbelievable," Stewart said.

"I had staff drive through the tornado from Taylorsville to get there," said Mick Vujanovic, chief operating officer of ClearView. "We had staff members who lost their own homes who came in that night to make sure our residents were safe."

Without the dedication of staff and numerous volunteers who showed up to help despite their own losses, "There is no doubt in my mind that we would have had a death ," Vujanovic said.

Reeves, Ingrum and all the staff who worked that night have lost their vehicles.

Reeves is suffering from breathing problems and has developed hives from the debris. He's already been transferred to another ClearView facility.

"I am so proud of the people I work with," Reeves said. "No one freaked out. They just did what they were supposed to do."

Ingrum was not supposed to be working that night. She stayed past her normal shift because she did not want to drive through the storms.

Ingrum said she knows how lucky they are. There were multiple casualties at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory across town.

Reeves and Ingrum stayed until the last resident had been transferred around 6 a.m.

"I just sat down and cried," Ingrum said.

'Generosity has been overwhelming'

Stewart, Ash, Ingrum and other staff at Mayfield Health and Rehabilitation spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday going through what remains of the nursing home to find residents' belongings and keepsakes. Another set of storms is set to arrive in coming days. They only have a limited window to get belongings out.

But they had help.

On Monday, a caravan of people in pick up trucks showed up to help the group find and transfer residents' belongings and salvage what was left of the nursing home.

"The generosity has just been overwhelming," Stewart said. "The community of Mayfield is just one of the most generous and humble communities that I work in."

This story was originally published December 14, 202111:43 AM.

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