The new 900,000-square-foot, $465 million Mercy Hospital Joplin in Joplin, Mo., was constructed to replace the tornado-ravaged St. John’s Regional Medical Center with a stronger, state-of-the-art hospital, according to an article on the FaciltyCare website.

The hospital patient tower and clinic office include a neonatal intensive care unit, a linear accelerator for cancer treatment, a cutting-edge emergency department and unprecedented “storm hardened” safety features.

“Having windows that can withstand a storm is a huge deal,” Gary Pulsipher, president of Mercy Hospital Joplin, said in the article. “Winds like the ones we experienced in the May 2011 tornado caused major damage and, once inside the building, they tore things apart and sent debris flying. There was no question we needed to prevent that going forward.”

The new structure incorporates a window and frame system that can withstand winds up to 250 miles per hour. 

Mercy also added a concrete roof, fortified “safe zones” on every floor and half-buried generators away from the main building. 

Read the article.