What they opened in June 2016 is a comprehensive outpatient campus with an emergency department, imaging, laboratories, medical offices and physical therapy. Just weeks after the storm and before the site had been completely cleared, Norman Regional Health System, whose flagship is 219-bed Norman Regional Hospital, was polling the community to learn what new healthcare facilities they wanted rebuilt, Splitt said. Much of the hospital was flattened by the tornado. The tornado that ripped through Moore killed 24 and caused about $2 billion of property damage and destruction. A woman in labor stayed in the hospital delivery room surrounded by nurses refusing to leave her side, Splitt said. There were no fatalities or major injuries.
Still, just a handful of people suffered minor cuts and bruises. More than 300 people, including town residents, crowded into the hospital when the tornado made a direct hit with winds exceeding 200 mph.
So management made a fateful and ultimately life-saving decision to move all the patients at the Moore hospital into the cafeteria and away from exterior walls and windows. The forecast the day of the tornado was for storms even more severe than the day before, Splitt said. Splitt, 50, had just joined the system as a chief administrative officer the week before the storm hit, he said. Splitt, who is a finalist for the permanent CEO position at Norman Regional, said there was never a doubt that the health system would rebuild after the tornado devastated the town of about 60,000. Norman Regional interim CEO Richie Splitt said the rebuilt Moore facility that replaced a 44-bed acute-care hospital was paid for entirely with insurance money covering the tornado destruction.
It's located on the site where a giant EF5 tornado leveled the system's hospital on May 20, 2013. The Norman (Okla.) Regional Health System ended its 2016 fiscal year on a high note, posting increased operating income (PDF) from the year earlier and opening a $32 million outpatient center in Moore, Okla.