Emergency field hospital funded by private donations airlifted to Los Angeles County

(The Center Square) – The charitable nonprofit organization Samaritan’s Purse has airlifted an Emergency field hospital to Los Angeles County at the request of Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster.

The county has reported a surge of COVID-19 cases, with local officials reporting that a person dies there from the coronavirus every eight minutes.

In Lancaster, located in Los Angeles County, more than 8,000 patients are hospitalized, with roughly 20 percent in intensive care. According to state data, more than 12,000 coronavirus patients have died from or with the coronavirus in Los Angeles County.

“Here in Lancaster, at Antelope Valley Hospital, the rooms and the wards are completely overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients,” said Samaritan Purse’s Edward Graham, the youngest son of Franklin Graham and grandson of Billy Graham.

Franklin Graham founded the organization, which specializes “in meeting critical needs in the world’s most troubled regions, often working through ministry partners already on the scene of a crisis.” In the U.S., the organization works with staff and volunteers to provide emergency aid in response to various crises.

“The doctors and nurses themselves can’t get a reprieve,” Edward Graham, who works in the nonprofit’s Programs & Government Relations division and who helped set up the Emergency Field Hospital, said. “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 50-plus bed facility, equipped as a respiratory care unit, is staffed by a Samaritan’s Purse DART (disaster assistance response team), which includes doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. It is located in the parking lot of Antelope Valley Hospital.

They will receive patients who are COVID-positive who do not need the support of a ventilator.

The unit is similar to one Samaritan’s Purse opened last week in western North Carolina and the fifth it has deployed in response to the coronavirus.

The operation involved a DC-8 cargo jet, which airlifted much of the equipment needed to Southern California, and tents that were set up were transported by the organization’s tractor trailer from its warehouse in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It is funded by donations to the organization and at no cost to taxpayers.

Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square