Regional News/Midwest: Missouri hospital destroyed by tornado will reopen in 2015

JOPLIN, Mo.—McCarthy Building Cos. has topped out the new Mercy Hospital Joplin, the 875,000-square-foot, seven-story structure built to replace St. John's Regional Medical Center. The former hospital was destroyed in May 2011 when the deadliest tornado to hit the U.S. since 1947 struck the hospital directly. McCarthy began construction on the budgeted $335 million hospital in January 2012. Its exterior is expected to be completed in November 2013, its utility plant operational by January 2014, and the main unit open in March 2015. The new hospital will also be larger than its predecessor, including areas for medical surgical, critical care, women's and children's care, behavioral health and rehabilitation. “We will have the new replacement hospital open three and a half years after the tornado hit Joplin, which is approximately half the time you would normally anticipate to plan, design and construct a similar sized hospital,” Stephen Meuschke, project manager for McCarthy, said in a news release. “We went from initial design to breaking ground in just five months,” John Farnen, executive director of planning, design and construction for Mercy, said in the release. Mercy is a Catholic healthcare system headquartered in Chesterfield, Mo., with locations across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. St. Louis-based McCarthy worked with the National Guard and volunteers to install a temporary mobile medical unit in Joplin just days after the tornado hit.