![]() SATERN Central Territorial Coordinator Bill Shillington, W9ZCL, and SATERN Associate Central Territorial Coordinator Ken Panczyk, W9KMP, have been dispatched to the tornado scene to assist in the general response.” The nets will continue every day until further notice. The MO-KAN Division SATERN began running nets on 75 meters at 3.920 on Tuesday at 9 AM, 3 PM and 9 PM to support the operation. “SATERN will assist with communications in the affected area. On Tuesday, Newton County Emergency Coordinator LaVerne Wilson, NQ0B, together with Lawrence County Assistant Emergency Coordinator Katherine Parker, KD0ETX, and District D Assistant District Emergency Coordinator Cecil Higgins, AC0HA, provided some additional relief to the operatorsĪccording to SATERN National Director Major Patrick McPherson, WW9E, the Kansas and Western Missouri SATERN Team was activated for the Joplin storm. Jasper County Assistant Emergency Coordinator Chris Wilson, N0CSW, helped set up communications between the shelter and the American Red Cross office in Joplin. The American Red Cross set up a shelter at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. By 9 AM Monday, the hospital no longer needed radio amateurs to provide communications support and we were released.” Baremore said that radio amateurs are still on standby status to provide communications support between the American Red Cross offices in Springfield and Joplin. It ended up steering a lot of people to the proper website for health and welfare messages. John Howard, K0VET, activated the Missouri Emergency Services Net (MESN) and it was up until 11 PM Monday night. Members of the Southwest Missouri Amateur Radio Club ( SMARC), along Christian County Emergency Coordinator Pat Conway, WA6GJM, helped out with this, using mobile radios set up just inside the doors of the hospital. Springfield is about 70 miles east of Joplin. “Using Amateur Radio, we provided communications between Freeman Hospital in Joplin to the hospitals in Springfield, as the tornado took down phone lines and cell towers. “Sometime late Sunday evening, we received a call from Freeman Hospital, requesting assistance to help provide communications support,” Baremore said. Patients from St John’s were taken to hospitals in Springfield and Northwest Arkansas. A Freeman Health System hospital in nearby Neosho, Missouri, treated 39 people, the hospital said. That hospital treated 465 patients, including 11 who died, the hospital said in a statement. Officials evacuated long-term patients from the city’s other medical center, Freeman Health System, to make room for emergency cases from the tornado, said Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. ![]() ![]() Cell phone coverage was spotty at best, but mostly non-existent, and the circuit was overloaded most of the time. We got there at 9 PM and used a newly installed 2 meter beam to talk to the Joplin repeater, establishing communications between the two American Red Cross offices. “I contacted Greene County Emergency Coordinator William Gilmore, KC0TCF, and asked him to join me in Springfield. “On Sunday, right after the tornado hit, I received a call from the American Red Cross office in Springfield, asking for radio support,” ARRL Missouri Section Emergency Coordinator Ken Baremore, W0KRB. As soon as the storm cleared, area Amateur Radio operators responded to requests from the American Red Cross and local hospitals to help provide communications support. ![]() On Sunday, May 22 at 5:41 PM (CDT), the single deadliest twister in almost 60 years - and the second major tornado disaster in less than a month - swept through the southwestern Missouri city of Joplin, slamming straight into St John’s Regional Medical Center. ![]()
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