O’NEILL, Neb. — The damage from Monday’s explosion and fire at St. Patrick’s in O’Neill isn’t limited to the Parish Center building.

St. Mary’s elementary school suffered extensive damage, several nearby houses were impacted and the hospital next door was greatly affected.

Avera St. Anthony’s CEO John Kozyra’s day started like most people in O’Neill’s did on Monday. He woke up to a loud boom shortly before 6:00. The hospital’s nurse manager called five minutes later saying they were evacuating the facility. When the parish center fire was under control, Kozyra surveyed the damage in the hospital.

“Walking through our facility and seeing broken glass, broken doors, ceiling tiles that had been ripped out of the ceiling, sliding doors that had been blown out," Kozyra said. "You look at a hospital that’s been here since 1952 and you think, we’ve never encountered this kind of damage.”

The hospital promptly set up a makeshift emergency department at the local community center. Now, all emergency patients are being transported to hospitals in Atkinson or Neligh… and it will be that way for awhile.

“It’s not as easy as just, let’s fix the windows," Kozyra said. "You have to look at all the utility systems that support the medical services in the hospital.” 

The emergency department was perhaps the hardest hit. It was brand new, opened a year ago after a massive expansion and renovation that cost more than $10 million. 

“It’s so heartbreaking to see a brand new, beautiful department have to now go through further renovation and restoration to get back to being functional,” Kozyra said.

Kozyra says the outpatient clinic on the west side could open in a week or so. It could be months before the emergency department and other spaces on the east side reopen.

“So I looked back at yesterday and was just blown away by the amount of support we got from our community," Kozyra said. "They were right there with us providing food… and just the amount of food and support and love and prayers that came to us yesterday.”

Kozyra will call an all-staff meeting this week to talk through the situation, which could involve having some staff take on non-traditional roles.

If people in the area need treatment for something less than an emergency, they can visit the Avera St. Anthony’s outreach clinics in Chambers, Spencer and Ewing.