Javits Center also gets a transformation.
As the USNS Comfort docked in New York Harbor Monday, residents were also greeted with a 68-bed respiratory care white-tented field hospital constructed on Central Park’s East Meadow on the Upper Eastside. The emergency hospital was built across from the Mount Sinai Hospital by a crew from Samaritan’s Purse.
A team of 70 healthcare workers from around the U.S. will be led by Dr. Elliott Tenpenny, who has previously treated Ebola patients in West Africa, Syrian refugees in Iraq and earthquake victims in Ecuador. Dr. Tenpenny serves as the Emergency Medical Response Manager of the International Disaster Response Unit at Samaritan’s Purse. He said, “This is honestly the most improbable place we’ve ever been. I never would have guessed we’d come to New York City with something like this. But New York never thought it would be dealing with a pandemic, either.”
The Army Corps of Engineers also transformed Manhattan’s Javits Convention Center into a makeshift 1,000-bed hospital. Governor Andrew Cuomo set the goal of building a 1,000-plus patient temporary hospital in each of New York City’s five boroughs as well as nearby counties.
The makeshift hospitals are a few examples of how New York is using every possible method to expand its capacity ahead of an expected peak of coronavirus patients in two or three weeks.
New York City remains the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, although other cities are quickly increasing their own levels of contagion.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For groups like Samaritan’s Purse who have added their contribution to that of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others in giving help to New York City.
- For doctors and nurses being recruited from across the country, including out of retirement, to work the coronavirus pandemic.
Sources: CNN, New York Post
