- Obviously, as you're watching this,
the reach of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow
and affect so many individuals and families,
not just in the United States,
but in cities and countries all over the world
including Italy, who is among the hardest hit right now.
Well thankfully, one of our global relief partners,
Samaritans Purse is on the ground
with their world class mobile field hospital.
We reached out to them
to see if we could steal just a little bit of their time,
and thankfully, they said yes.
Kelly Sites is on standby,
she leads part of their medical relief team,
and she's gonna take a call from us right now.
(light music)
Hey Kelly, how are you?
- Hi Life Church, we're good.
How are you guys?
- We're doing very good.
Thank you for taking just a moment out of,
what I believe and would imagine,
is a very hectic and very demanding time for your team.
- You're welcome.
We're doing okay here, we're plugging along, working 24/7.
- If you can, just tell me a little bit about your role,
and the team, and what's taking place there right now.
- So we're on the ground in Italy, northern Italy.
We're partners supporting a hospital, a public hospital,
and they are fully converted over to a COVID hospital,
and my role is one of the nursing supervisors.
We have a medical staff of about 30 people.
When we landed
it was about seven o'clock at night in Italy time,
and there was literally no cars on the road,
no people, no movement.
It was like a ghost town, it was really surreal.
- When Samaritans Purse deploys their mobile hospital,
which is among the best in the world,
what are the factors that go into Samaritans Purse
to determine, we need to send support,
we need to send our mobile field hospital?
- It's a combination of several things,
usually there's an invitation
or a cry for help from the country that's in crisis.
The WHO sometimes reaches out
and asks us for specific things that they know we can do,
that we have the capacity for,
and thirdly is the need.
If the need is overwhelming the system and the country,
then we're available to help step in.
- What is the capacity of the mobile field hospital,
and what needs are you guys able to meet there?
- So we have about 20 different tents,
similar to the ones that you can see right behind me.
We have a capacity of 68 patient beds.
We have an intensive care unit,
that has 10 ICU beds with ventilators,
which is a big need here.
A couple of days ago
we had a nurse who worked in a local clinic,
the clinic had 96 patients,
and they were all COVID patients.
They have seven staff, and five of the staff got sick,
and the nurse was one of them.
So actually we have the doctor
and the nurse in our facility,
but yesterday the nurse walked out the door to go back home.
- Yeah, wow.
- We've been very encouraged.
There is nothing better
than serving the people with tangible things,
such as medical care, in this situation,
and it gives us the opportunity to be alongside of them
all day everyday for 24 hours a day, as we care for them,
but then share hope and pray with them.
We also have pastors on site
that are giving them Bibles if they want them
because they're sitting here all day everyday.
So it's a wonderful opportunity.
- Well Kelly, we appreciate, and I know I'm just one person,
but hopefully I'm one person of thousands
that are apart of Life Church
that are able to just say thank you to you,
thank you to your team,
thank you to Samaritans Purse for all that you're doing.
Really, it's an honor for us to be able to support you.
And just the final question I would ask is,
if I'm asking on behalf of the church,
what can we do for you guys right now, what would that be?
What do you need?
- Well, first of all,
we want to thank Life Church so very much
for everything that they've done.
It gives us the opportunity and the capacity
to hit the ground and bring relief right away.
We cannot do this without you, so we're a team,
but what we're asking you to do
is continue to pray for the patients,
pray for the medical team,
and pray for the people of Italy
who are really in a challenging place right now,
and then continue to be the church where you are,
find ways to reach out.
- Well Kelly, thanks again.
I guarantee you, you have a whole church back here,
and I know thousands of others around the world
that love Samaritans Purse that are praying for you guys.
And if there's anything we can do, just know
that you've got a whole team of people standing ready
to help you guys out.
We love you guys.
- Thank you so much, take care guys.
- All right, we'll see ya.
- Okay, bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
Part of the reason I wanted you to be on this call
was because I wanted you to see
how you're making a difference,
not just at your local campus or at church online,
but literally all over the world
with the help of our global partners.
I know that there's a lot going on, and still going on,
but it's how God is working through you,
and our local partners,
that we're able to fulfill our mission in so many ways,
of leading people
to become fully devoted followers of Christ.