BY ANDY TAYLOR

(Updated at 7:30 p.m., Monday)

Montgomery County’s emergency personnel and various organizations are responding to the tornado that devastated a large portion of the Joplin, Mo., community on Sunday evening.

More than 20 employees of Mercy Hospital in Independence were dispatched to Joplin on Sunday night, said Joanne Cox, Mercy spokesperson. Among the 20 employees were 12 nurses plus two physicians, surgeon Christopher Lewis and physician Casana Brunton.  Mercy chief executive officer Eric Ammons also transported a vehicle filled with various medical supplies, and a disaster response trailer filled with emergency room-type equipment and a power generator also was taken to Joplin, said Cox.

Mercy is allied with St. John’s Medical Center in Joplin through the Sisters of the Mercy, the charitable organization that owns and operates the Mercy hospitals as well as St. John’s. St. John’s Medical Center took a direct hit in the tornado, sending the 183 patients to various hospitals, including Freedom Medical Center in Joplin as well as hospitals in Springfield, Mo., Carthage, Mo., Miami, Okla., and Pittsburg, Kan.

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