Misissippi County gets Temporary Hospital After Tornado

A temporary hospital is on its way from North Carolina to Louisville, Mississippi, helping to fill the gap after Monday’s tornado heavily damaged Winston County’s only hospital, a nursing home and medical offices.

Kirsti Clifford, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said the first 12 trucks carrying tents and equipment left Friday. She says six more trucks are being loaded.

Paul Black, interim administrator of Winston Medical Center, says the county hospital will operate the facility, which will be set up on a four-acre paved site on Louisville’s south end.

The facility includes an emergency room, surgery unit, inpatient beds, an X-ray machine and a lab.

Dr. Sam Suttle, Winston County’s medical director, says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying for the hospital.