International Christian Relief Organization Responds at the Epicenter of the Coronavirus in the U.S. BOONE, NC — Samaritan’s Purse deployed its Emergency Field Hospital to New York City, New York, where the local medical infrastructure is severely overwhelmed. In cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), New York state officials, and local hospital authorities, Samaritan’s Purse will open a 68-bed field hospital, specially designed as a respiratory care unit. This response comes one week after Samaritan’s Purse opened an identical unit in Cremona, Italy—making it an unprecedented medical response for the N.C.-based organization as two Emergency Field Hospitals are run simultaneously.

An advance team arrived in New York on March 27 to begin assessments and site preparation. The Emergency Field Hospital is being trucked from North Carolina on four Samaritan’s Purse tractor-trailers. Once it arrives on-site, it will be built and operational in roughly 48 hours. This convoy’s arrival will be followed with doctors, nurses, lab technicians, water and sanitation experts, and other support staff.

“People are dying from the coronavirus, hospitals are out of beds, and the medical staff are overwhelmed,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse.

“We are deploying our Emergency Field Hospital to New York to help carry this burden. This is what Samaritan’s Purse does—we respond in the middle of crises to help people in Jesus’ Name. Please pray for our teams and for everyone around the world affected by the virus.”

The United States now has the largest outbreak of COVID-19 with nearly half of these cases in New York state. Thousands of new cases are reported each day.

Media Opportunities

• Interview Edward Graham, assistant to the vice president of programs and government relations
• Interview Dr. Elliott Tenpenny, team lead of the COVID-19 response, on the ground in New York
• Interview Brock Kreitzburg, managing the response from the organization’s international headquarters
• Interview medical personnel working at the Emergency Field Hospital
• Broadcast Quality Broll and High-res photos of the U.S. response available here
• Broadcast Quality Broll and High-res photos of the Italy response available here

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As Samaritan’s Purse helps bring critical surge capacity to New York, another team of medical personnel are running an Emergency Field Hosptial in Cremona, Italy. Less than 24 hours after opening this hospital, the Intensive Care Unit was full. As soon as hospital beds are open, they are immediately filled with patients suffering from the virus.

Samaritan’s Purse infectious disease experts have been working in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure the team is taking necessary precautions both in the U.S. and in Italy.

Based in Boone, North Carolina, Samaritan’s Purse responds to the physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis situations—especially in locations where few others are working. Led by President and CEO Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse works in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution. For more information, visit SamaritansPurse.org.

The Samaritan’s Purse International Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) program is committed to meeting the critical needs of victims of war, poverty, famine, disease, and natural disaster. We stand ready to respond at a moment’s notice whenever and wherever disaster strikes. The DART specializes in providing water, food, shelter, and medical care while sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

CONTACT: Kaitlyn Lahm, news@samaritan.org

To read more news on the Outbreak of COVID-19 on Missions Box, go here.

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