Emergency Field Hospital

Overview

The Emergency Field Hospital is mobile and ready to deploy at a moment's notice to provide emergency medical relief in disaster-stricken areas where medical infrastructure is damaged, overwhelmed, or nonexistent.

Since its inaugural deployment to Ecuador in 2016, Samaritan's Purse has cared for tens of thousands of patients at 23 Emergency Field Hospitals and outpatient clinics around the world.

Mission

• The Emergency Field Hospital expands the Samaritan's Purse medical response capacity by quickly putting the right equipment and resources in disaster areas.
• This facility allows Samaritan's Purse to serve as many people as possible with emergency medical care while also ministering to their spiritual needs.

Specifics

The hospital is designed to be customizable, meaning each response is unique and tailored to the needs of the people in a disaster-stricken area.

• At its maximum deployed capacity, the Emergency Field Hospital consists of the components listed below and spans nearly an acre of land:
• • Emergency room
  • Laboratory
  • Ultrasound imaging equipment
  • More than 50 inpatient beds (may be deployed with as few as 20 beds)
  • Two operating rooms
  • Surgical sterilization tent
  • Digital X-ray equipment
  • Critical care unit
• At maximum capacity, the Emergency Field Hospital staff can treat more than 200 patients and perform 15 to 30 surgeries daily—functioning as a full hospital.
• A deployed hospital is staffed with 20 to 80 medical personnel, including highly skilled physicians, nurses, surgeons, lab technicians, anesthesiologists, pharmacists, water and sanitation engineers, and other support-services professionals.
• Staff members are experts in their fields and participate in specialized training programs to prepare to serve during a disaster.
• A specially trained team deploys with the Emergency Field Hospital to perform setup, with the goal to have the hospital operational within 24 hours of arriving on-site.
• The Emergency Field Hospital arrives with the necessary equipment to be self-sufficient, including generators and water purification systems.

Deployments

Turkey: 2023

After back-to-back earthquakes rocked Turkey and Syria killing tens of thousands and wounding over one hundred thousand more, Samaritan’s Purse responded immediately with relief supplies and an Emergency Field Hospital to aid survivors. Medical staff treated more than 8,000 patients and performed 270 surgeries over the course of 7 weeks.

Ukraine: February 2022

Samaritan’s Purse deployed two Emergency Field Hospitals to Ukraine and operated multiple emergency outpatient clinics and mobile medical units across the country—providing care to tens of thousands of people. Samaritan’s Purse also supplied critical medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and equipment to dozens of Ukrainian healthcare facilities, including many of the largest hospitals in the country.

Haiti: August 2021

After a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake, Samaritan's Purse responded in Haiti—airlifting more than 110 tons of critical relief supplies on four DC-8 trips. Disaster Response Specialists treated more than 3,300 patients and performed 125 surgeries at a 36-bed Emergency Field Hospital. Two community water filtration systems also were installed in hard-hit areas.

Jackson, Mississippi: August 2021

Samaritan's Purse increased coronavirus surge capacity at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Samaritan’s Purse medical personnel offered critical COVID-19 care for 65 patients at the 34-bed hospital, specialized as a respiratory care unit.

Los Angeles County, California: January 2021

Samaritan's Purse deployed an Emergency Field Hospital to Lancaster, California, as a spike in coronavirus cases overwhelmed area health systems. Medical staff treated more than 160 COVID-19 patients while reminding them that God loves them and they were not forgotten.

Western North Carolina: January 2021

On Jan. 1, Samaritan's Purse transported an Emergency Field Hospital to Lenoir, North Carolina, to combat rising COVID-19 cases. Samaritan's Purse doctors and nurses treated 79 patients in partnership with Caldwell Memorial Hospital.

Honduras: November 2020

Hurricanes Eta and Iota struck Central America within a matter of weeks, triggering catastrophic flooding and landslides across northern Honduras and leaving hundreds of thousands of families without access to clean water, shelter, or crucial medical care. Samaritan's Purse responded with an Emergency Field Hospital in San Pedro Sula and deployed mobile medical teams to aid hurting families isolated by the storm. In total, medical staff treated more than 3,700 patients across northern Honduras.

Bahamas: October 2020

At the request of the Bahamian Prime Minister, Samaritan’s Purse deployed an Emergency Field Hospital to Nassau after an increase in COVID-19 cases overwhelmed the local healthcare system. Samaritan’s Purse doctors and nurses helped relieve the burden from the country’s largest hospital while also providing COVID-19 Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) training to some 340 healthcare professionals.

New York City: April 2020

Less than two weeks after Samaritan’s Purse opened an Emergency Field Hospital in Cremona, Italy, the international Christian relief organization opened a nearly identical unit in New York City’s Central Park. This marked an unprecedented medical response for Samaritan’s Purse as it was the first time that two Emergency Field Hospitals were deployed simultaneously. In partnership with Mount Sinai Health System, Samaritan’s Purse treated 190 patients at the facility.

Italy: March 2020

As northern Italy quickly became an epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic, area hospitals were overrun with the sudden onslaught of patients. Samaritan’s Purse airlifted a 68-bed Emergency Field Hospital, specialized as a respiratory care unit, to Cremona, Italy to provide supplementary medical care in partnership with Cremona Hospital. Samaritan’s Purse medical staff treated 280 patients with the ICU at capacity within the first 24 hours of operation.

Bahamas: Sept. 2019

At the request of the World Health Organization and the Bahamas government, Samaritan's Purse deployed its Emergency Field Hospital after Hurricane Dorian struck the islands as a Category 5 storm and damaged the local hospital. The 40-bed hospital in Freeport, Grand Bahamas provided medical personnel with the capacity to treat more than 100 patients per day with an emergency room, intensive care unit, pharmacy and an operating room for up to 10 surgeries per day. Samaritan's Purse treated more than 8,000 patients with critical medical needs following the storm.

Mozambique: April 2019

Samaritan's Purse deployed its Emergency Field Hospital to Mozambique after Cyclone Idai created widespread devastation and damaged the local hospital—leaving expectant mothers without a safe place to deliver their babies. At the request of the Ministry of Health, Samaritan's Purse specifically constructed the Emergency Field Hospital with multiple maternal wards and an operating room to perform emergency C-sections to help meet this need. In addition to delivering 40 babies, 17 through C-sections, medical staff treated more than 5,700 patients at the hospital.

Iraq: Dec. 2016

Samaritan’s Purse deployed the emergency field hospital to Iraq as coalition forces and ISIS fighters fought for control of Mosul. Located 11 miles from the front line, Samaritan’s Purse provided emergency trauma care to more than 4,000 victims of war and performed more than 1,700 major surgeries.

Ecuador: April 2016

Following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Ecuador, Samaritan's Purse first deployed its emergency field hospital. This gave Samaritan's Purse doctors and nurses a physical location to provide life-saving medical care to earthquake victims. Over the course of two months, Samaritan’s Purse medical staff treated 1,285 patients and performed 287 surgeries.

Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, is an international Christian relief and evangelism organization working in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution. For more information, visit SamaritansPurse.org.