What it's like inside the Central Park field hospital in New York City: 'Our country is in a war'
- The evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization, Samaritan's Purse, has been operating a field hospital in Central Park dedicated to COVID-19 patients since April 1.
- Kenneth Isaacs, a spokesperson for the organization, talked to Business Insider from the field, saying people are healing but estimates the apex is still a week and a half or two behind Italy.
- Despite the organization's anti-gay history and leader, Isaacs said it has never discriminated against anyone and only bases care on need, not sexuality, skin color, political leanings, or religious beliefs.
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Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization headquartered in North Carolina, has led missions in war-torn regions around the globe, including Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Now, the war zone is closer to home, in New York City's Central Park, where it's been operating a 14-tent, 68-bed respiratory care unit for COVID-19 patients since April 1.
"We came here because we care about New Yorkers and we care about New York," Kenneth Isaacs, the organization's vice president of programs and government relations, told Business Insider. "We care about this country, and our country is in a war right now, and we want to do our part."
Business Insider talked to Isaacs from the field about the daily operations, the outlook, and New Yorkers' fears around Samaritan's Purse's anti-gay history.
Most of the Central Park patients are coming from Brooklyn
The mobile medical unit, which has 10 ICU beds equipped with ventilators, receives COVID-19 patients from Mount Sinai of all ages and a range of illness severity. Most are from Brooklyn, Isaacs said. "They're sick, they're having difficulty breathing."
The unit is essentially broken into three areas: The intensive care unit, where patients may or may not be on ventilators; a "step-down" unit where oxygen is available and they're still closely monitored; and the last area is "convalesence," the last stop before discharge.
On April 5, the organization had five discharges and were expecting more on April 6, Isaacs said on the morning of April 6. "We're very excited about that, to see people heal and the people are very excited to be going home. They're thrilled," Isaacs said. "That really lifted at our spirits."
But he doesn't expect the operation to slow soon.
"I think that New York is probably a week and a half or two weeks behind Italy," he said, where Samaritan's Purse is also operating. And while the percentage of growth of new cases has gone down in New York, that would have to happen for several days before he'd be confident the city is at the apex.
On April 5, New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo suggested the Apex could be currently hitting the city. The same day, infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci projected it at 9 days out state-wide. On April 8, New York State had more confirmed cases than any country in the world.
"Even as it goes down, it's going to be a slow slide," Isaacs said.
The organization is aiming to keep the staff 100% infection-free
Samaritan's Purse has about 80 volunteers on site, all of whom adhere to strict protocols to keep themselves and patients safe. "I don't think any of us are afraid," Isaacs said.
There are dedicated infectious and non-infectious areas, and workers need to go through a scrubbing and personal protective equipment donning procedure before entering the infectious zones, and go through a wash down process afterwards.
They all wear masks, and emphasize handwashing and avoiding face-touching. The water is heavily infused with chlorine.
"These are things that we learned in [fighting] Ebola and in Congo and in West Africa over the years, and our infection control and prevention techniques are interesting because many of the people from Mount Sinai are coming over and they're making notations."
The organization hasn't had any staff get sick yet, and aims to keep it that way. "Our goal is 100% non-infection in our staff, so we're focused on doing that and giving the highest care possible for the patients," Isaacs said.
They say rumors that the operation would discriminate against LGBTQ people are 'simply inaccurate and false'
Samaritan's Purse, led by unapologetically anti-LGBTQ preacher Franklin Graham, has not been welcomed by all New Yorkers.
"Organizations like Samaritan's Purse are likely to provide actively discriminatory care to the most vulnerable cross-sections of our population," Terry McGovern and Emily Battistini wrote in the New York Post.
On April 6, a guerrilla theater activist known as Reverend Billy, was arrested as he protested the organization. "They have no business being in New York City," he said. "They are the virus."
Isaacs said reports of discrimination are "simply inaccurate and false."
"We really don't care who you vote for. We don't care what color you are. We don't care who you're married to or who you sleep with. We don't care what you believe or who you prayed to or who you don't pray to," Isaacs said. "Our patients are brought to us, and we have one consideration on who we treat and that's need nothing else."
He added: "Do we help in Jesus's name? Yeah, we have a religious belief in Christ, but that means that we help everybody equally. And we want to show them love because we believe Christ loves us and Christ loves them and we want them to know that."
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