KOAM TV 7 Joplin and PittsburgGovernor Nixon to honor Freeman Health workers

Freeman Health Care workers will be honored Wednesday evening by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon for their efforts the night of May 22nd.

Kurtis Cox is a general surgeon at Freeman Hospital.  The night of the storm his home was destroyed and he was unaware of the well being of two of his sons.

Despite that, Dr. Cox immediately reported for work to care for others.

"I walked in the emergency entrance and it was wall-to-wall people," says Dr. Cox.  "You had to step over people to get in and it became obvious that, yeah, I was needed."

Dr. Cox helped some of the 500 patients that flooded Freeman Hospital West.

Staff performed 22 life saving surgeries within the first 12 hours after the tornado.  Physicians also stepped outside their normal duties to care for those injured in the storm.

"At that time, the land lines weren't working, cell phones were hard to use, we couldn't really call physicians but somehow everyone just showed up," says Dr. Cox.  "Everyone was pitching in and a lot of people were closing lacerations and evaluating trauma patients."

Freeman President and CEO Paula Baker says staff doesn't consider themselves to be heroes but their actions prove otherwise.

"They committed so many heroic, selfless, acts, and they were truly a beacon of hope for this community on May 22nd and have been every day since," Baker says.

Dr. Cox witnessed tragedy that night, but also a miracle with the Freeman community working together to heal the wounds of a deadly tornado.

"It's going to be probably the most memorable thing in my career," Dr. Cox says.

Neither of Dr. Cox's sons were injured in the storm.