It is 11:37 a.m. on a gray, windblown, wintry Tuesday. The Greenfield, Iowa, Casey’ s convenience store is a buzz.
Construction crews – big and small, housing primarily – and one concrete-specific contractor – are in search of a bite to eat. Some choose Casey’s cheeseburgers, breaded tenderloins for others. One grabs two slices of pepperoni pizza.
Small talk fills the air, mostly about semis – one carrying wooden frames – arriving at one home down the street. Another, a load of lumber a few blocks over.
To a man, the group hoped Mother Nature would pause for a minute to let them continue at the pace to which they have been working.
Goals, it must be noted, floated about the room. “Get them (people of Greenfield) back in their (remodeled) house or their new house as soon as possible,’’ one mustached, middle-aged man, said.
“They deserve that much,’’ a young man said to his work partner, just before taking a bite from his cheeseburger.
On the edge of town, nestled just off the highway that leads into Greenfield, the Adair County Fitness Center is bustling. People training fill one end, while Rock Valley Physical Therapy – in its temporary home – is busy doing what it does best – providing tremendous, patient-first, one-on-one care to those in need.
This day the good people of Greenfield – including an amazing collection of Rock Valley Physical Therapy staffers – are upbeat – moving forward.
There is a positive feel at every turn. From Casey’s to the town square to the Adair County Health Systems site, an affiliate of Mercy One.
Strange looks aside, you want desperately to stand in the center of town and applaud the entire community.
On May 21, 2024 – somewhere between 2:57 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. – life changed forever in Greenfield. A violent, multi-vortex EF4 tornado struck it and surrounding communities, taking the lives of five people, injuring 35 others, and turning a wonderful community – nestled neatly into southwest Iowa – upside down.
Weather experts say an EF4 tornado – like the one that cut through Greenfield – is estimated to harbor wind speeds of 185 miles-per hour. Data released a month after this EF4 says some wind speeds of over 300 mph were reached in Greenfield.
The storm’s devastating path – from the edge of Nodaway Lake on one tip of Greenfield – to the far end of town past the Adair County fairgrounds – saw over 150 homes destroyed and countless others damaged. Lives changed forever.
Rock Valley Physical Therapy, longtime physical therapy partners with Mercy One’s Adair County Health Systems, has been housed at the Greenfield-based medical facility. The tornado ravaged parts of the hospital, including the area designated to Rock Valley Physical Therapy.
“It sounded like cars coming through the walls,” said Rock Valley’s Carolyn McVay, Greenfield’s longtime front office lead. McVay, who hails from nearby Winterset, Iowa, has been a positive presence in the Greenfield community for four decades and part of the Rock Valley family for 13 years.
McVay and Rock Valley’s Andrew McCartan, a gifted and patient-centered PTA, were in the Rock Valley clinic when the tornado struck. Therapist Jacob Stearns, PT, DPT, ATC, was out of the office. Clinic Manager Katherine “Katie” Ohms, PT, DPT, was in Des Moines, Iowa, 55 miles from Greenfield, at a Rock Valley clinic manager’s meeting.
“We had a patient in a small room we were protecting, and we could hear glass breaking and the walls moving,” added McVay, getting a nod from McCartan to what the situation was like. “Like I said, It felt like cars were coming through the walls.’’
Ohms, an ever-dedicated, compassionate, and upbeat sort, lives with her husband Nate and their two children, not far outside Greenfield. She began receiving storm-related messages from her family regarding the impending tornado possibility.
“I knew the kids were safe with my husband at our house,” Ohms said. “As the tornado advanced, we adjourned the meeting. Because there were (weather) issues everywhere around Greenfield, I was forced to wait 45 minutes to head there, which seemed like four hours. Believing my family was safe, I was worried about Andrew, Jacob and Carolyn, our patients, and the people of Greenfield. My kids go to school there and we are part of that community.’’
When the tornado finally passed, McCartan, Stearns and McVay began to assess the damage around them. Finally finding an open route into town, Ohms, upon arrival, joined Stearns and McCartan, already working triage for the injured.
“I first helped a man bleeding with a head injury,’’ McCartan said. “We then got him on a stretcher and to an ambulance waiting at Casey’s where we were working triage first. I was there to help anyone I could. You do what you know.’’
McVay says she assisted in getting a longtime friend – who had been struck by a refrigerator – out from beneath the rubble of his home. Ohms says when she first got boots on the ground, a bevy of ambulances were filled and ready for transport to medical facilities in neighboring towns.
Additional therapists from Rock Valley’s Des Moines’ clinics also came to help. The local Catholic Church was set up to provide food and shelter for all.
Ohms said she – and others – transported displaced townspeople to spots where they could be looked after and find necessities and comfort.
The building that now houses Rock Valley Physical Therapy – the American Legion portion of the fitness outlet – would become a center where people could get clothing to replace all they had lost.
Assessing, planning, and caring for friends and neighbors was how the Rock Valley staff would spend that first night.
“There was not a lot of sleep,” said Ohms, who spoke glowingly of the people of Greenfield, doing all they could to assist those injured and displaced. “There were cleanup crews right away and crews to restore power and things of that nature. Jacob (Stearns) and Carolyn (McVay) had their cars destroyed. Others had trees on top of their cars. Homes that were there a few hours ago, were gone. People were doing their best just to get through that first night. There was this house – where EMS stayed right behind the hospital. It is where Andrew (McCartan) lived for a while. It was gone.’’
After assessing where her family and staff stood after the incident, she Ohms began checking in on Rock Valley patients.
“You establish relationships,” she said. “And you want to make sure those you are treating are OK, then you turn your focus to those who we have treated in the past. All you want is for everyone to be safe.’’
The days that followed were hectic.
Another round of storms hit town two days later, though nothing like that of the tornado.
Ohms and her staff began assessing avenues to assist Rock Valley patients. Mercy One’s Adair County Health Systems building was severely damaged.
Ohms began seeing Rock Valley patients in their homes, while Greenfield Rock Valley staffers were placed in Rock Valley clinics in Des Moines. For two months, Ohms worked to find a home for Rock Valley Physical Therapy.
On Aug. 22, 2024, Rock Valley began seeing patients in the Adair County Health and Fitness Center. The date to return to the Mercy One Adair County Health Systems site is to be determined pending additional facility renovations. Ohms says Mercy One officials have always been amazing to work with/for and there is no worry regarding a return.
“It will happen, but when it is fluid,” she said. “We love where we are. The key is we are taking care of patients, concentrating on doing what we do. It’s good to be taking care of people again.’’
As best as it can, Greenfield continues to move forward.
Schools opened in late summer, having been shut down the final few weeks after the tornado. The Adair County Fair took place in early July 2024, which Ohms called a huge week of healing.
“We are grateful for what we have,” she said. “Everyone is doing their best to move forward. It is a great town with so many great people.’’
And their efforts should be applauded.
By: Johnny Marx, Rock Valley Storyteller