Samaritan’s Purse sends relief to New York amid coronavirus pandemic

BOONE, N.C. — The North Carolina-based organization Samaritan’s Purse is now bringing relief to New York amid the coronavirus pandemic.

New York’s hospital system is already overwhelmed with patients.

The group shipped a 68-bed field hospital with a special respiratory care unit Saturday.

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The organization said an advanced team got to New York on March 27 to begin assessments and prepare the site.

Samaritan's Purse set up an emergency field hospital in New York City’s Central Park in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Today, crisis-trained chaplains (in blue) will leave Charlotte this morning to offer emotional care to doctors, nurses & the community at large. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/lbUECHIQB0
— Anthony Kustura (@AnthonyWSOC9) March 30, 2020

“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.”

This comes a week after Samaritan’s Purse opened an identical unit in Cremona, Italy.

On Monday, crisis-trained chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response team left Charlotte for New York. Chaplains will join nearly 100 workers to offer emotional support to patients, doctors and nurses.

We’re told volunteers will wear personal protective equipment and follow all CDC guidelines.