BARNSDALL, Okla. — The response to May 6's deadly tornado in Barnsdall has come from many levels: state, local, individual, and even tribal.
The Osage Nation has stepped in, providing health services on the ground to anybody who needs them.
It killed one person in Barnsdall and injured several others to varying degrees.
An Osage Nation Health System mobile medical unit has been stationed in the small town, treating people there.
When asked how many people they've treated, OHNS nurse practitioner Michelle Critchfield told 2 News, “Oh my gosh. I don’t know… a lot.”
Inside the medical van from ONHS are two exam rooms, a wheelchair lift for those who can't climb up the stairs and all kinds of supplies.
"We can treat just about anything that you would treat in a clinic,” Critchfield explained.
She's a nurse practitioner with ONHS, and she estimated that her team has treated about 10 people with serious medical needs and many more people for other needs.
“We have been giving quite a few tetanus shots," said Critchfield.
She added that "several people" with wounds have come in, usually because they've "stepped on nails or screws, and they just need their wound cleaned out.”
When they haven’t been inside the van, the medical team has been in the field, handing people supplies and treating them on-site.
However, it’s not just about healing physical wounds—it’s also the mental ones.
“They're in the cleanup phase," Laura Brooks explained. "I think the first couple of days [were] very shocking."
"But now that's settling in, that they may not have homes to come back to," she added, "and that’s when that emotional or that mental health support is needed.”
The Osage Nation Counseling Center is offering that support in Barnsdall, you can reach them at 539-212-2499.
Brooks, who is the Center's program manager, told us counselors and a peer recovery support specialist are on-site, and a crisis line is open at 918-381-0258.
“There is a well-known saying that ‘there may be weeping for a night, but joy comes in the morning,’" Critchfield remarked.
"We come to bring medical help to those people that need it, to help start that process back towards joy,” she added.
While the Osage Nation has been providing these services in Barnsdall, its medical officials emphasized that they’re there for anybody who needs them, whether they're a tribal member or not.
The medical van is parked along S. 5th Street near the Sinclair gas station.
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