IBERIA PARISH (NEW IBERIA) — Two years ago, Iberia Medical Center was devastated by an EF-2 tornado that struck on Dec. 14, 2022, causing more than $10 million in damage. Today, the hospital is celebrating its recovery and the progress made since that day.
On Wednesday evening, a 'rededication reception' was held in the hospital lobby.
"This is a milestone for us in our healing process," said CEO Dionne Viator. "The past two years have been marked by significant challenges, but the staff's commitment ensured that healthcare services continued without interruption."
"We were able to keep most of our physicians practicing," said Jacob Freyou, Vice President of Outpatient Operations & Support Services. "Everybody that was in that building—we were able to accommodate them with space."
The hospital's emergency preparedness, honed through years of hurricane planning, proved invaluable. "All of the hurricane planning certainly came into play with this tornado—we just had a compressed timeframe to act," said Viator.
The rededication event featured speeches, refreshments, and visual aids showing the hospital's progress over the last two years.
“We are blessed that we've all come together and we didn't do it alone as a hospital, we did it with our community. The way we were able to get back and keep our healthcare services--we had the fire department, we had the police department, we had our parish president--everybody putting all the resources to help us continue access to the hospital and for our patients."
