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Samaritan's Purse Field Hospital

Facility in Grand Bahama is now up and running.

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A STATE-of-the-art field hospital on Grand Bahama was set to become operational yesterday to provide healthcare services in Freeport while Rand Memorial Hospital closes down and undergoes sanitisation and decontamination.

Hospital Administrator Sharon Williams told The Tribune the field hospital would provide the same services that RMH offers to patients. The field hospital was implemented in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, Public Hospitals Authority and Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organisation.

As Hurricane Dorian battered Grand Bahama for more than two days, RMH was flooded with storm surge.

“We are going to have to go down at Rand, so we can have the place totally sanitised before we return services and make the repairs needed to be done,” Ms Williams said on Monday.

“But we do need to get our field hospital up and running, transfer everything out of there (RMH) and then begin the restoration process.”

Kelly Sutter, of Samaritan’s Purse, said the organisation is setting up a tier two hospital across from RMH to take pressure off the hospital and staff.

“There’s a lot of water damage and they need to close their doors, refurbish, rebuild and the staff needs to regroup and take care of their families and homes,” she said.

Officials said they hoped the field hospital set up would conclude on Monday and start seeing patients yesterday. According to Samaritan’s Purse, the field hospital is a 40-bed mobile facility that can receive up to 100 patients daily and features an operating room with capacity for 10 surgeries per day, as well as an obstetrics ward with delivery room.