CleanMed 2026 is coming to St. Louis – a city of extraordinary resilience, deep history, and profound beauty. It is also a city that is still recovering.
On May 16, 2025, an EF-3 tornado tore a mile-wide, 20-mile path through North St. Louis, killing five people, injuring 38, and causing an estimated $1.6 billion in damage. The storm struck communities that had already been living with the consequences of decades of disinvestment – Black neighborhoods where aging homes, limited health care access, and chronic underfunding left residents with almost no margin when disaster struck.
“A natural disaster really met a systemic disaster. Intentional disinvestment sets communities up so that when these uncontrollable things happen, their pathway to recovery is so much longer.”
– Kayla Reed, Action St. Louis co-founder and executive director
CleanMed 2026 convenes May 12–14, just days before the one-year anniversary of the tornado on May 16, 2026. That timing is not incidental. It is intentional.
We are here because the people doing the most important work on community climate resilience are here. We are here because the lessons learned in North St. Louis belong to every health care leader in every city in this country. And we are here because bearing witness – honestly, humbly, and with a commitment to action – is part of what it means to lead in this moment.
Within 24 hours, Action St. Louis and ForTheCultureSTL launched the People’s Response – a force of 10,000 volunteers to fill the gap left by stalled city and federal efforts to provide help, health, and relief to their neighbors.
The organic community hub didn’t stop there. For instance, from their resident intake form, 1,133 households were identified as dealing with urgent health-related needs. This became the foundation of a partnership with the St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN) – a network connecting residents with community health workers, pharmacies, and behavioral health services.
Another powerful example of responding to the communities’ needs is trauma surgeon, Dr. L.J. Punch, who founded 314 Oasis in the Fountain Park neighborhood, providing holistic health care, meal distribution, and co-located social services that continue to this day.
“There were 40 people with serious injuries. And there were 4,000 people who couldn’t sleep. That’s where I think sometimes health care doesn’t quite understand its role.”
– Dr. LJ Punch, trauma surgeon and founder, 314 Oasis
CleanMed Host Committee member, SSM Health, and leader of one of our pre-conference events, Forest ReLeaf, of Missouri have also been making long-term investments in North City – from community health partnerships to urban tree restoration – that address both the immediate damage and the deeper environmental injustices the tornado exposed.
Our commitment to action
The tornado response in North St. Louis offers one of the most compelling real-world models of community-health partnership in recent memory. It shows what becomes possible when grassroots organizations and health care institutions build trust before a crisis – and what it costs when they don’t.
Every session, every conversation, and every relationship built at CleanMed 2026 is an opportunity to carry that model home.
The questions we are asking in St. Louis: – How does health care show up for its community before the emergency? What does resilience actually require? Whose voices need to be centered in these decisions? – are questions that belong to every city in this country.
“There is going to be a crisis. We can wait until it happens to get to know each other, or we can work to know each other before.”
– Kayla Reed, Action St. Louis co-founder and executive director
How to engage while you are here
Attend the Environmental Justice Bus Tour Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Led by Dr. Alexander Garza, Chief SSM Health community health officer, and Meridith Perkins, Forest ReLeaf of Missouri executive director, this two-hour tour makes four stops across North St. Louis to showcase the long-term investments being made to address environmental injustice and tornado recovery. Presented by SSM Health, Practice Greenhealth, and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri.
Care for trees planted in honor of those lost to gun violence Practice Greenhealth has partnered with Forest ReLeaf, a St. Louis-area nonprofit, and the Arbor Day Foundation to offer this volunteer service opportunity on Tuesday, May 12. Participants will help maintain tree health by weeding and spreading mulch around dozens of memorial trees planted in Beckett Park. Donations are also welcome.
Attend the session: Pathways towards building community climate resilience Wednesday, May 13 · 9:30–10:30 a.m. Led by Lucia Sayre, director of Place-Based Initiatives at Health Care Without Harm, this session shares tangible examples of how hospitals and community-based organizations are collaborating on climate resilience projects — and gives attendees practical strategies to bring home.
Attend the session: Empowering clinicians for environmental justice and community activism Thursday, May 14, 1:30–3:00 p.m. Radiologists Dr. Ben Northrup and Dr. Theo Vander Velde of Washington University School of Medicine present a place-based spotlight on radioactive contamination and environmental justice in North St. Louis, with an interactive activity to help clinicians develop personal action plans.
Attend the Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Dinner on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Health Care Without Harm will present its 2026 Community Catalyst Award to a St. Louis community activist whose leadership of the grassroots tornado response offers a powerful model for community-health partnership. (Award recipient to be announced at the dinner.)
How to support the ongoing recovery
The work in North St. Louis is not over. Here are the most direct and equitable ways to help:
Donate to the Northside Resilience Fund The Northside Resilience Fund provides direct cash assistance to families severely impacted by the tornado. Donate here: https://www.investstl.org/donate/. You can also donate to the St. Louis Community Foundation
Support 314 Oasis 314 Oasis continues to provide meals, health care, and co-located social services to residents still in recovery. Donate through their fiscal sponsor, Build Missouri Health, or volunteer locally. https://www.314oasis.com/contribute
Learn more and amplify Read the People’s Response Impact Report – the definitive account of the community-led response and the scale of unmet need – and share it with your networks. actionstl.org/tornado
Advocate Support Action St. Louis’s ongoing advocacy for the city of St. Louis to direct Rams settlement funds to North City recovery. Use your institutional voice to amplify this call. bit.ly/investnorthstl