Ukraine Press Kit

Samaritan’s Purse Deploys Emergency Field Hospital to Ukraine

North Carolina Based Organisation to Provide Life-Saving Medical Care, Emergency Food, and Other Critical Relief in Central Europe

SYDNEY, NSW, 7 March 2022—As conflict in Ukraine escalates, Samaritan’s Purse is deploying an Emergency Field Hospital to the region to meet the critical medical needs. Disaster response specialists have been on the ground in Poland, Romania and Moldova since last week conducting rapid needs assessments and preparing a strategic response.

Over the weekend, the international Christian relief organisation airlifted an Emergency Field Hospital and a team of disaster response specialists—including doctors, nurses, and additional support staff—to Poland on its DC-8 aircraft. The field hospital will be transported to Ukraine where it will provide specialised trauma care to people impacted by the conflict. This unit will have the capacity to treat more than 100 patients each day, and it will be made up of 30 in-patient beds, an operating room and Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

A 747 cargo plane will depart this week, carrying additional components of the Emergency Field Hospital and the equipment to establish two additional medical clinics. These clinics will be deployed to areas receiving an influx of refugees. Assessment teams continue to work to identify the most strategic locations for these units. These health clinics will equip Samaritan’s Purse medical staff to meet minor trauma needs and provide general medical care for some 200 patients each day.

“Ukrainian families are hurting and in desperate need of physical aid and prayer during this difficult time,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “We are deploying life-saving medical care to aid people who are suffering. We want to meet the needs of these families in their darkest moments.”

Media Contact: Meredith Percy – meredithp@samaritanspurse.org.au

In addition to medical care, Samaritan’s Purse is preparing to distribute 20 tons of food inside Ukraine. Disaster Assistance Response Team members have also begun distributing water and food in Poland as Ukrainian families cross the border. Samaritan’s Purse will continue to assess additional needs in the countries surrounding Ukraine—ready to respond in further capacities to aid hurting families.

Samaritan’s Purse Australia and New Zealand responds to physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis situations–especially in locations where few others are working. Led by President and CEO Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse works in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution.