What You Need to Know About the Samaritan’s Purse Field Hospital in Central Park in New York City, Part 1

I can’t believe that we are in the heart of New York City, but that’s exactly where God has placed us.
—Edward Graham, Assistant to the Vice President, Programs and Government Relations, Samaritan’s Purse—

Key points: The presence of the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital in Central Park in New York City is a testimony to God’s love and care for those who are hurting and dying. It’s also a testimony to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the One who died to provide eternal life to all who would come to Him on His conditions.

Ever since Jesus left the earth and established His church, His followers have recalled with urgency His powerful words in Matthew 25 where He spoke of commending them in the future for serving others and meeting their needs. They also have remembered Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan and His command to do as Samaritan had done. In response to the question “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus illustrated how one can be an authentic neighbor to those in need. “Go and do likewise,” Jesus said. The passages where we find these words of Jesus are Matthew 25:31-40 and Luke 10:25-37. You can read both of them on this page.

During the centuries since Jesus gave the command to do as the Samaritan in His parable had done, serious Christians have endeavored to obey it and represent Jesus with love, confidence, and authenticity. This doesn’t mean they perfectly have rendered services to those in need or that they never have been afraid. Even so, they knew that the One to whom they had were giving lives had sacrificed His life for them. In His strength, they simply took steps to follow His example and obey His command. They also knew that this life on earth was not all there was, and they sought to live in the present in light of eternity and the eternal principles Jesus upheld.

In a Stand to Reason blogpost, Melinda Penner writes,

In the third century AD, an epidemic swept across Northern Africa, Italy, and the western empire. As many as 5000 people a day were dying in Rome. The sick were abandoned in the streets and the dead left unburied. In Carthage, the Christians were blamed for the disease, and the emperor ordered Christians to sacrifice to their gods to end it. Carthage’s bishop, Cyprian, encouraged Christians to care for the sick and dying. They buried the dead and risked getting sick by taking in the sick. This was repeated other times in the early centuries of the church during epidemics. Christians introduced a new concern and standard of care for sick people.

Church history scholar Rodney Stark offers evidence of this in his book The Rise of Christianity. He researched the uptick in the number of those in Christian ranks during three specific plages in history—

• • • the Antonine plague in the second century,
    • the Cyprian plague in the third century (mentioned above), and
    • the Justinian plague in the sixth century.

During these tragic events, Christians’ loving and compassionate care for the sick served to attract non-believers to the faith. Charles Colson, who studied church history, observes,

The care Christians showed often did result in their succumbing to the plague themselves. But paradoxically, their compassion did not deplete Christian ranks in the long term—quite the reverse. Tending to the sick increased the disease survival rate by as much as two-thirds, and this witness attracted many new converts. By acting on the teachings of Christ, without regard to their own welfare, these Christians, against all expectations, progressed from being a small sect to the dominant cultural group.

The unprecedented teachings of Christianity gave people a reason to care for the sick and destitute. Only Jesus taught that His followers could find Him in their neighbor.¹

Jesus’ Teachings Are Timeless and Absolute

Fast forward one millennium and several centuries later to the present day. In 21^st-century America, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has spread around the world and infected more than two million people. While some who contract the virus show no symptoms or exhibit only mild ones, others are ravaged by the disease. New York City has been especially hard hit in the United States. As of this writing (on April 18, 2020), New York State has recorded over 226,000 cases, including over 126,000 cases in New York City alone. Statewide, over 16,000 have died, and in New York City, more than 8,000. In New York City, over 33,000 are hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Hospitals in the Big Apple have been overrun. Against this backdrop, Samaritan’s Purse (SP), a Christian international relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, is serving the sick in New York City as well as the city at large. In late March, Samaritan’s Purse deployed a multi-tent field hospital in Central Park, across the street from the city’s Mt. Sinai Hospital. The field hospital itself and the state-of-the-art medical services rendered there truly are remarkable.

On April 7, 2020, Dr. James Dobson of the James Dobson Family Institute released a Family Talk radio broadcast during which he interviewed Ken Isaacs of Samaritan’s Purse. The two talked about the coronavirus pandemic in New York City and the field hospital that SP had set up in Central Park to combat it. In the following three clips from that program, we will learn some important facts the mainstream media are ignoring. We’ll also listen to several other audio clips from various You Tube videos along the way.

Clip #1 from Family Talk (2 minutes, 51 seconds)

In this first clip, we learn that:

• • • 

      Samaritan’s Purse is experienced in providing medical relief in hard hit places. The organization has deployed a field hospital outside of Milan, Italy, to provide care for coronavirus patients. These people know what they’re doing. Listen to New York City resident, author, and talk radio show host Eric Metaxas express his wonder at what he saw when he went to visit the facility.

• • • The field hospital in Central Park has 68 beds, including 10 intensive care units, and is staffed by 65 professionals, including approximately 45 medical personnel.
    • At the time of the interview, the Samaritan’s Purse hospital had 13 patients and anticipated having 23 patients that evening. (That number would increase significantly.)
    • Samaritan’s Purse was invited by New York City’s Mt. Sinai Hospital to set up its field hospital to help take care of coronavirus patients.

Clip 2 from Family Talk (59 seconds)

In clip #2, we find that:

• • • The field hospital is staffed by paid volunteers who want to be there and want  to serve people and meet their needs in Jesus’ name. Here is one doctor named Peter who affirms that it is God who heals; yet he knows God is using him as a willing vessel. He asks for prayers for both patients and volunteers.

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We want people to know about Christ, and we believe that the quality of our work is the platform of our witness.
—Ken Isaacs, Samaritan’s Purse—

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• • • Samaritan’s Purse is benefitting from the strong support that members of the surrounding community and organizations within it are offering. In this clip from this video, Ken Isaacs shows Eric Metaxas where New Yorkers have gathered together to applaud the arrival of the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital.

Clip #3 from Family Talk (1 minute, 40 seconds)

• • • As the volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse serve people, they take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel. Indeed, that is what compels them to serve people.
    • At the same time, they coerce no one. They simply serve people without hiding who they are—servants of Jesus Christ. Meeting people’s needs with excellence in Jesus’ name attracts people. This is the model Jesus upheld in His parable of the good Samaritan.
    • Once again, we hear that the people of New York City are appreciative. Ken Isaacs said, “People thank us everywhere that we go, and we’re deeply touched by it.”

Franklin Graham: Why We’re There

This summary from Franklin Graham is well worth listening to and/or reading. Rev. Graham gave it on a CBN newscast when he was interviewed by CBN News correspondent Jenna Browder. He said,

People’s hearts are filled with fear. And this virus is very serious, and of course it can be deadly in some people. But the [health care] system in New York right now is overwhelmed. We’re at Mt. Sinai Hospital, and we’re set up right in front of them. And they are full! And so our hospital is right there on Fifth Avenue, in Central Park, across the street, and we’ll open it tomorrow (March 31).

One thing, Jenna, that struck me was a comment in the papers yesterday about a woman whose husband had died, and she said he died alone. And many of these people are dying alone. And I thought to myself, Just give Samaritan’s Purse those that have no hope, and if they come into our hospital, they’re not going to die alone because the doctors and the nurses — we pray. We’ve got chaplains; we pray! And we’ll pray for everyone that comes in, and if someone passes in our hospital, they won’t be dying alone. Our doctors and our nurses are going to be right there with them, holding their hand, praying for them, loving them, till their last breath.

But we hope and pray that every person that comes into our hospital, that they’ll walk out. And that’s our goal. I’m so proud of our team. And we’re going to be in New York as long as we need to be there.

Not Everyone Is Pleased

Conventional wisdom would suggest that all New Yorkers would welcome Samaritan’s Purse and the SP field hospital to New York and to Central Park, but this isn’t the case. Some people aren’t happy. In fact, some are very upset.

We’ll examine why next time. I’ll publish part 2 in a day or so.

Stay tuned!

Part 2 is available here.

Copyright © 2020 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Note:

¹Colson, Charles W.. The Faith (p. 20). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

top image credit: Samaritan’s Purse video on You Tube

image credit: Antonine plague etching

image credit: Mt. Sinai Medical Center