Through the Eyes of DART Nurses: COVID-19

It has been one year since Samaritan’s Purse simultaneously deployed two Emergency Field Hospitals to Cremona, Italy and New York City. Both locations were epicenters for the novel coronavirus at the time. As local hospitals became overwhelmed by an influx of patients, Samaritan’s Purse medical staff helped offload some of the burden—treating more than 600 patients at the mobile hospitals, which were specialized as respiratory care units.

In this episode, Kristy continues a conversation with ICU nurses Shelly Kelly and Ann Galgano. She first spoke to them during the height of the coronavirus responses in New York City and Italy. One year later, Ann and Shelly reminisce on God’s faithfulness and provision while serving at our Emergency Field Hospitals. They also share how God changed and shaped their hearts during the responses and in the months to follow.

Kristy speaks with Ann and Shelly as they describe the whirlwind of deploying to the Emergency Field Hospitals and how, as they first began accepting patients, they had little knowledge on what to expect.

Ann recalls feeling like David fighting Goliath as the first patients arrived at the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital in Italy.

“I remember the first day we opened, March 20, that evening I saw how sick the patients were and I was like, we’re not going to win. I felt defeated, I felt like goliath was going to beat David in that moment,” Ann said.

Still, she prayed for God to move in the midst of the tents and perform a miracle beyond human capacity. “We were able to get 11 patients off the ventilators. I was in shock when I came home and overjoyed and surprised at the outcomes that we saw there.”

Through the challenges and obstacles that came with fighting a brand-new virus, Ann and Shelly praise God for preparing them through previous experiences with Ebola and other infectious diseases. Even more, they thank God for how He used their time at the Emergency Field Hospitals to grow their faith and reaffirm their calling to serve in difficult situations.

“We have to remember that God is our strength and He is the one giving us the ability to love,” Shelly said. “He’ll protect our hearts and minds as he calls us to different places to serve different people and he’ll give us the words to say when we’re in the situation where we’re loving and sharing Christ with others in their time of need.”

In total, Samaritan’s Purse has deployed five Emergency Field Hospitals to coronavirus hotspots and trained more than 2,000 healthcare professionals and community members on proper Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) measures.