Doctor describes scene of Joplin tornado for University of Central Oklahoma symposium

But the day would not be routine for Dodson, the trauma surgeon and medical director for St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo.

Some of his nurses called him and said the hospital had been hit by a tornado.

He drove over the top of a hill.

“You could see for miles through the very center of this city,” Dodson said. “I thought, to be honest, there's gotta be 500 dead.”

Dodson described the scene and the aftermath to medical professionals from Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and Missouri on Tuesday during the Medical Facility Response Symposium at the University of Central Oklahoma.

He was one of six speakers from the Joplin area who told their stories about the tornado that killed 160 people to a packed auditorium in the Nigh University Center.

Dodson described how the hospital staff reacted when the hospital ordered a “condition gray,” a warning to prepare for a tornado.

“We had nurses throw themselves over their patients,” he said.

It was over in 45 seconds.

All the people he talked to who were there told him they thought they would die. Nurses were shocked when they were able to stand after the tornado had blown over.

Dodson cited Emergency Medical Services as playing a critical role in saving victims' lives across the city. He said EMS had transported more than 350 victims to other operational hospitals in the first hour after the tornado.