Press Releases
Food Pantry Moving Back to Hospital Grounds July 8
Posted on Friday, June 20th, 2025
Food Pantry Moving Back to Hospital Grounds July 8
Clients of the Mercy Health Love County food pantry received extra food boxes Tuesday to help tide them over until the pantry reopens in a new location on July 8.
Jessica Crosthwait, executive assistant to the director of the hospital, announced that the food pantry will be closed on June 24 and July 1 to vacate the former Greenville School site and return to hospital grounds.
“We are moving back to Marietta. We will be in the former Ford dealership at 1300 Memorial Drive, across from McDonald's Restaurant, where we are setting up a drive-through pantry,” Crosthwait said.
The original pantry building of the hospital was destroyed by a tornado that struck Marietta on April 27, 2024. Love County Commissioners offered the Greenville School cafeteria as a temporary location. The school had permanently closed that year. It is being converted to a community center.
The Ford building, owned by the hospital, has been temporarily occupied the past 14 months by the Love County EMS/Fire Brigade Station 1, which also lost its headquarters in the tornado.
Workers have been busy converting the former Growers Market on Legacy Park Lane to a new home for Station 1 medics and ambulances.
The food pantry has been serving clients with quantities of fresh, canned, and frozen food items since 2000.
"We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the relocation but look forward to helping clients again,"...
Hospital Progress One Year After April 2024 Tornado
Posted on Friday, April 25th, 2025
Many Buildings Repaired; 24-hour Care on the
Cusp of Resuming at Tornado-Wracked Hospital
Temporary Emergency Room Links Up to Clinic: A covered walkway connects the clinic parking lot with a newly-constructed emergency room, which opens soon at Mercy Health Love County. Medical care will be available for walk-in patients and ambulance patients 24 hours a day.
Inside the Temporary ER: Construction workers on April 24, 2025, put together three
treatment bays and a trauma room in a temporary emergency room on the hospital’s
east side. A brand new laboratory inside also will begin serving patients and the public.
Like a patient in long-term care, key buildings on the Mercy Health Love County Hospital campus have undergone rehabilitation since being struck by a powerful F4 tornado on April 27, 2024.
Tornado damage and water damage have been remedied at the Clinic Building, the Therapy Building (now the home of physical and speech therapy and radiology services), the former Growers Market (now the home of EMS Station 1), the former Adult Day Center (now the hospital business office), and the Maintenance Building. Remediation continues at the Social Services Building.
The heavily-damaged hospital building itself, at 300 Wanda Street, sits vacant and unusable. But plans continue being developed for a restored or new hospital on the same site.
The big news is that the return of 24-hour medical care is right around the corner. A temporary emergency room has...
See Marietta Monitor Tornado Issues of 2024 and 2025
Posted on Friday, April 25th, 2025
Here are page reproductions from two Marietta Monitor newspapers one year apart:
Page 1 Marietta Monitor May 3, 2024
Page 7 - Marietta Monitor May 3, 2024
A Quick-Thinking Worker at the Valero Station Ushered Customers to Safety
ONE YEAR LATER THE TORNADO STORIES ARE REVISITED
Page 1 Marietta Monitor April 25, 2025
Page 7 Marietta Monitor, April 25, 2025
Valero Clerk Is Reinterviewed One Year Later
Construction and Repairs Pick Up at Mercy Health Love County
Posted on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025
Renovation of Growers Market: Jessica Crosthwait, right, hospital
administrative assistant confers with Jokson Loyola, Andrea Hufford,
and Louis Inman of the Mooring Company as they work to convert
the former Growers Market to an ambulance station.
Temporary Emergency Room: Workers with Asher Company set up
construction equipment on Legacy Park Lane on February 25 to build a temporary
emergency room for Mercy Health Love County.
Sleeping Rooms, Showers, Restrooms and More: Jokson Loyola, project
superintendent with Mooring Company shows dividers going up February 24,
2025, inside the former Growers Market to accomodate personnel of EMT Station 1.
Indoor Improvements in Clinic: Laminate flooring and a new paint job
spruced up the Mercy Health Love County Clinic on February 24, 2025.
(February 25, 2025) For several weeks, Legacy Park Lane in Marietta will be the busiest street in town. Simultaneous new construction and renovation projects are going on at Mercy Health Love County buildings and lots along that stretch of roadway, which terminates at Legacy Park.
The work is part of recovery from the April 27 tornado that struck the medical complex. Helping with the projects is the hospital’s Jessica Crosthwait, who gave a tour of the activity Monday. “We want people to know they are not forgotten. We are working to provide the community with the medical services they need,” she said.
She suggested that Park visitors stay off of Legacy Park Lane during the...