Tornado Recovery Continues in Hard-Hit Alabama

CORDOVA, Ala. — Almost a month after a string of storms
devastated wide swaths of the southern United States, Ken
Glover, RPH, quietly opened the doors of a large trailer and filled
prescriptions for grateful patients. The sturdy 100-year-old
building that once housed Glover Drug in Cordova, Ala., was no
more, heavily damaged by two tornadoes on April 27.

In addition to the operation in Cordova (population 2,400),
Glover has two other pharmacy/home care locations in Jasper, Ala.,
and one in Dora. All four sites had power knocked out after the
first storm hit at the crack of dawn, essentially rendering backup
protocols useless.

“We have a plan in place for disasters such as fires, tornadoes
and floods,” lamented Glover. “But this plan did not encompass
total destruction within a 30- to 40-mile radius, with all of our
locations knocked out at one time.”

After learning of the first tornado, Glover sent a crew to
Cordova to check the damage. When he heard about the destruction,
he went to the store to retrieve what he could.

“There were leaks, roof damage and the window was blown out,”
said Glover. “All the buildings around us were crumbled. I was able
to get our computer system, prescription records and the controlled
drugs because we did not know what kind of security would be
available.”

After securing the window with plywood, Glover initially thought
he had a “fixable situation.” Little did he know another tornado
would strike the same location later that day. After returning to
his Dora store, Glover sent his crew home as the weather
deteriorated. He visited a nursing home under heavy rains to
deliver medicine to a patient, then wound his way back to Cordova
to retrieve a printer.

On the way back to his car at about 4:40 p.m., the alarm warning
went off. “Another tornado had been spotted and was on a direct
path to where I was,” reported Glover. “I jumped in my car and
drove about eight miles home. I walked out on my back porch with my
daughter, and we watched the tornado as it came over the city of
Cordova.”

Upon returning to the site after the second tornado, Glover
realized that the “fixable situation” wasn’t one.

“Total destruction,” said Glover. “I have never seen anything
like it in my whole life. Ten buildings sitting right where I had
parked my car at 4:40 were gone. At that point, probably
three-quarters of Alabama was without power.”

Running off a generator at the Dora location, Glover Drug was
the only drug store for miles, and people were coming from
everywhere for help, Glover said. Despite the lack of regular
phones and spotty cell coverage, Jennifer Weathers, RN, the
provider’s DMEPOS coordinator, said the company was able to get the
word out.

“Cell service was terrible, but we were able to use Facebook,
Twitter and text messaging,” said Weathers. “We could get online on
our phones with Facebook apps. We have a Facebook fan page, so we
were able to communicate with customers using that. That was
exciting, because we were able to ease their minds that we had all
their supplies here at the Dora store. We opened the Dora store two
days after the storm.”

As for the Cordova operation, Glover found a temporary trailer
in Memphis, got it back to Alabama and re-opened his doors just
last week.

“There was no building for rent, because every one had been
destroyed,” Glover said. “We were one of the first downtown
businesses to open, and it was nice to see familiar faces. I now
have a plan on my desk of what the new permanent fixture will look
like, and we are looking in that direction.”

Mike Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Durable Medical
Equipment Association, continues to work with affected providers,
and the stories of hardship are piling up. “I know of a provider
who had all four of his locations hit in one day,” said Hamilton.
“We had one member with a 45,000-sq.-ft. warehouse with roll-up
garage doors on both ends. The front door got splintered, and
pieces of the door took all of the equipment in the building and
shoved it out the back door.”

Atlanta-based Friends of Disabled Adults and Children is
providing wheelchairs and other medical equipment to tornado
victims in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The equipment will be
distributed by ReMedy, a Birmingham-based recycler of medical
items. FODAC is also continuing to collect and distribute equipment
to other affected states. In Georgia, the company has set up
several drop-off sites in the Atlanta area. For more information,
see the FODAC website or contact [email protected].

You can also donate to any disaster relief
efforts, such as the floods, wildfires and storms
experienced throughout the country this year, through the American Red Cross
Disaster Relief fund or the Salvation Army’s disaster response.