Samaritan’s Purse has opened an emergency field hospital in Freeport in the Bahamas to provide vital medical help to those impacted by hurricane Dorian. They received more than 90 patients on their first full day of operation (Sept. 10). Distributions of emergency items (shelter plastic, water filters, and more) continue in the Abacos. Their DC-8 aircraft is making daily flights to and from the Bahamas to deliver personnel and relief supplies.

Samaritan’s Purse is using airplanes, helicopters, barges, and other modes of transportation to quickly move relief where it’s needed most.

Samaritan’s Purse made its first airlift of the Emergency Field Hospital to the Bahamas on Sept. 5, at the request of the World Health Organization and the government of the Bahamas. A second DC-8 airlift of hospital components (our third total relief flight) was sent on Sept. 6.

A large team of medical specialists, including doctors and nurses, and other experts were on the Sept. 5-6 flights to help set up the mobile hospital.

The 40-bed facility will have an outpatient department and emergency room, equipped to serve up to 100 patients a day. There will be an operating room—with capacity for 10 surgeries per day—and an obstetrics ward with delivery room.

On Sept. 4, we sent more than 30 tons of emergency relief to the Bahamas aboard our DC-8 aircraft. More than a dozen disaster response team specialists were also onboard.

In total, Samaritan’s Purse now has nearly 100 staff members on the ground in the Bahamas.

The first plane load left Greensboro, North Carolina, around 9 a.m. on Sept. 4 and arrived in Nassau where it was unloaded. Onboard were emergency shelter materials, household water filters, and two community filtration units that turn saltwater into drinking water. Reports say 70,000 people are homeless following the storm.

Samaritan’s Purse: International Crisis Response

Samaritan’s Purse stands ready to respond at a moment’s notice whenever and wherever disaster strikes. We specialize in meeting critical needs for victims of conflict, disaster, famine, and epidemics throughout the world, often working through ministry partners on the ground. We provide food, water, shelter, medicine, and other assistance in the Name of Jesus Christ.

To read more news on Disaster Relief on Missions Box, go here.