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WILMINGTON—Before Jeff Hamilton even stepped a foot into the mobile hospital tent, he knew and appreciated its purpose.

Hamilton needed several of them last May when an EF-5 tornado demolished the hospital in Joplin, Missouri.

"The hospital was destroyed, it had no electricity, it had no way to support patient care we had to move patients out of there as rapidly as possible," said Jeff Hamilton with St. John's Mercy Medical Center.

Hamilton was one of the speakers at New Hanover Regional Medical Center's annual Trauma Symposium in Wilmington. He said the most important lesson he wants to share is that hospitals are not indestructible.

"We have been working very diligently with all of our hospitals to include a worse case scenario of not being overwhelmed with patients, but being overwhelmed with patients when you don't have a facility to care for them," said Hamilton.

Dr. Peter Rhee also spoke on Friday. Rhee worked through the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Az. He said the event changed the hospital's media relations policy.

"The hospital will actually utilize what's going on air as well as the public so you need to be up front, give as much information as you can, and be available and cooperate," said Rhee.

There are eight mobile field hospitals in North Carolina.  Dr. Rhee and Hamilton said the hospitals mean North Carolina is better prepared than most states. Hospital officials say it is that readiness that can have the best impact on a worse case scenario.

More than 400 medical professionals from across the country are expected to attend the two-day symposium.