NEW IBERIA, La. — A category one tornado hit Dr. Mark DeRouen's dental office on December 14th, with employees and patients still inside. After the tornado, the office was forced to shut down and close due to the extensive damage.
Since then, the office has been renovated at a new location just a few streets away from the old one. Doctor and employees have been all hands on deck on the construction to prepare it for patients on Monday morning.
Dr. Mark DeRouen, according to his employees, is a jack of all trades. DeRouen even built the previous dental office and encouraged his dentist team to do the same at the new location.
"I said go for it, you know we're all hands-on and mostly if you work in a dental office, you're going to be hands-on, but it's the willingness to learn," said Dr. DeRouen.
Being able to open back up their dental practice after being closed for so long, means returning to normal for the office.
"It means a lot, it's normalcy for him and for us, we come every single day like 7:30 to 8 o' clock in the morning, sometimes until 5 in the afternoon," said Kaci Labiche, a dental assistant.
"Just working doing everything cleaning, constructing floors, patching walls, everything. He's taught us everything dental and taught us everything construction now."
Dr. DeRouen and his team are excited to finally open back up Monday morning to the city of New Iberia, stronger and closer together.
"We're open you know, we ready to go back to work, so to speak," said Dr. DeRouen.
Dr. Mark DeRouen's new dental practice will now be at 600 Vicnaire St, New Iberia, LA 70563
