Our teams recently opened an Emergency Field Hospital in Southern California in Los Angeles County, which has a population of over 10 million. An airlift on Monday, Jan. 11, brought the medical equipment needed, and tents were transported across the country by a Samaritan’s Purse tractor trailer. The 54-bed mobile unit is located in the parking lot of Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster.

Franklin Graham traveled there on Jan. 13 to see final preparations before our Emergency Field Hospital soon opened. Speaking to our DART (disaster assistance response team), Graham encouraged them: “Remember, we are here for one purpose: To lift up the Name of Jesus Christ. We want to love the people of this community with God’s love.”

The situation in Los Angeles County is devastating, as approximately every six minutes a person dies from COVID-19. More than 15,000 coronavirus patients throughout the county have passed away, with almost half of those deaths coming in the past two months. Total cases in the county have surpassed 1 million.

Samaritan’s Purse is also operating an Emergency Field Hospital in Lenoir, North Carolina, to support five regional healthcare systems that are reaching capacity due to rising coronavirus hospitalisations. The hospital, which opened Jan. 7, is set up on the grounds of Caldwell UNC Health Care and is staffed by our Disaster Assistance Response Team, including doctors, nurses, and other healthcare specialists.

“This is our home state, and we appreciate the frontline workers battling COVID day in and day out. We are glad that we can be there to help lift the load. Our medical team is going to help provide professional, compassionate, and quality care to every patient who is sent to us,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse.

Our field hospitals in both Lenoir and Lancaster treat those who are COVID-positive but do not need the support of a ventilator.

The mobile unit in California is the fifth Emergency Field Hospital Samaritan’s Purse has deployed since the beginning of the global pandemic early last year. Our DC-8 cargo jet airlifted disaster relief personnel and tons of medical equipment in order to open field hospitals and care for COVID-19 patients in Italy and the Bahamas. In New York City, we set up a medical facility in East Meadow in Central Park.

In addition to our Emergency Field Hospital deployments, Samaritan’s Purse country offices and global affiliates have launched new efforts or adapted projects to support people who are suffering during this global pandemic. We have also partnered with organisations in more than a dozen additional countries to meet further needs.