Responding to a critical need, our mobile unit of more than 50 beds will expand capacity for Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster.
Samaritan’s Purse is preparing to open an Emergency Field Hospital in Lancaster, California, to care for people suffering from COVID-19. A Disaster Assistance Response Team, including nurses and doctors, is already on the ground.
Our DC-8 was unloaded in California on Jan. 11.
On Jan. 11, our DC-8 cargo jet airlifted much of the equipment needed for the hospital to Southern California. The tents have already been set up after being transported by a Samaritan’s Purse tractor trailer from our warehouse in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
The mobile unit of 50-plus beds will receive patients in the parking lot of Antelope Valley Hospital, our local medical partner. Patients treated at our site will be limited to those who are COVID-positive but do not need the support of a ventilator.
SAMARITAN’S PURSE RESPONDS TO COVID-19
“Here in Lancaster, at Antelope Valley Hospital, the rooms and the wards are completely overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. The doctors and nurses themselves can’t get a reprieve,” said Edward Graham, assistant to the vice president of programs and government relations for Samaritan’s Purse. “There’s no break, they don’t see the end of this and they’ve asked for help—along with the community leaders, the mayor, and the church leadership here.”
The tents for our Emergency Field Hospital are being set up in Los Angeles County.
The COVID-19 outbreak is dire in California, as it is among the states with the most confirmed cases per capita. Lancaster is located in Los Angeles County, where one person is dying from the coronavirus every eight minutes. Of the more than 8,000 patients hospitalized, about 20 percent are in intensive care. Sadly, more than 12,000 coronavirus patients have died so far in Los Angeles County.
“It’s been a very trying month for everyone, especially the people who work in the Antelope Valley Hospital. They are true heroes,” said R. Rex Parris, Lancaster mayor. “I can’t say enough for Samaritan’s Purse; you have saved us. Hundreds of people will live who may not have lived. You have literally given a gift that could only have come from God.”
Please pray for our teams as they set up the hospital and ready it to receive patients. Please pray for those who are sick with the coronavirus and for our local medical partner as we work together to help save lives during this deadly pandemic.
This article originally published on Jan. 9 and was updated on Jan. 11.
