ERWIN, Tenn. — Jeffrey Bowen rode in an emergency vehicle to Unicoi County Hospital's emergency room on the morning of Sept. 27, but he left in a Black Hawk helicopter.
He's one of the dozens of people rescued from the roof of the facility after the nearby Nolichucky River flooded from the impact of Hurricane Helene.
Bowen's wife, Katherine Bowen, said her husband collapsed in their Erwin home around 6:30 a.m. that day, and that an emergency crew came to their home and got him to the hospital at 7 a.m.
"From there, it just turned to mud, literally," she said.
Katherine went to the hospital with her husband, and a little while later, medical staff determined he needed to be admitted.
"I came home to get his cell phone and necessities he'd need for his stay," she said. "I never made it back. The roads were closed. I had no idea what was going on, until I got a call (from someone) saying the hospital was underwater, which I did not believe."
Katherine is the president of the Unicoi County Historical Association and said the hospital was built in a way that shows homage to the area. Its restaurant was named after a pottery company based in Erwin, and artwork on the walls reflected the town's scenic mountain beauty.
She said the area where the hospital was built is historically a flood zone, and at one point there was a body of water where it stands. As the years went by, the water dried up.
"The Army Corps of Engineers built it up so it would no longer flood," Katherine said. "They could not have anticipated what happened the day of the flood."
On the day of the flooding, Katherine said people in the hospital were all taken to one area and taken to the roof. Her husband wasn't able to move on his own at that time, so he was strapped to a bodyboard and pulled up.
There were boats in the area, she said, but the current was too strong for people to be taken in the boats to safety. However, her husband was put on a canoe with a crew and waited in the water for a helicopter rescue.
"He had no idea if he'd have a wife or house to come back to," Katherine said.
Eventually, muddy water was rushing into the canoe.
"The helicopter started coming, and strapping people in, and was carrying them up," she said. "My husband was delighted to find out he was being strapped in by a national guardsman. The next they knew, my husband was in a Black Hawk helicopter and that thrilled him."
Katherine said she was thankful for her husband's doctor, Michael E. Sutherland.
"What touched me so much was when I found out Dr. Sutherland was the last one taken up and rescued," she said. "It reminded me of the Titanic, and how the captain stayed on the ship."
Katherine's husband was taken to a hospital in Johnson City afterward and is still receiving medical care.