Samaritan’s Bags Opens Emergency Field Hospital in Jamaica to Treat Survivors of Hurricane Melissa
SOURCE: Samaritan’s Purse
BOONE, North Carolina, November 6, 2025 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — This morning, the international Christian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse opened its emergency field hospital in Black River, Jamaica. This field hospital is providing critical medical care to families affected by Hurricane Melissa after the local hospital was destroyed.
The 30-plus-bed field hospital is equipped with an operating room, an intensive care unit, an emergency room, an obstetrics ward for maternal and neonatal care, a laboratory, a pharmacy, and a blood bank. Samaritan’s Purse airlifted this unit to the island on Sunday aboard the organization’s 767 cargo plane at the request of the Jamaican Ministry of Health. Today, Samaritan’s Purse medical staff began treating patients, providing surgical, emergency, and maternal care to those in desperate need, all in the name of Jesus.
“ This powerful storm damaged or destroyed all the structures in Black River, including the hospital, and our team has been working day and night to have an emergency field hospital airlifted to the site and now open and treating patients,” said Franklin Graham , president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse. “Many people in Jamaica have lost everything, and there is a great need for medical care. We are here to help in the name of Jesus.”
The self-sufficient, fully equipped field hospital, designed to operate in disaster zones, is staffed by doctors, nurses, and other members of Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Response Team (DART). Additional mobile medical teams began conducting clinics in the surrounding communities just days after the storm made landfall.
Over the past week, Samaritan’s Purse has airlifted nearly 100 tons of emergency relief supplies to Jamaica, including thousands of shelter tarpaulins, 4,660 household water filters, almost 4,000 solar lights, and more than 800 hygiene kits. The organization has also sent four community water filtration systems, each capable of providing up to 10,000 people per day with clean drinking water, and continues to install them in the most severely damaged areas of the island.
“These people will need our help for some time. We continue to deliver drinking water, shelter materials, and other relief supplies to help families recover,” Graham added. “As this fades from the news, we want them to know they haven’t been forgotten. Please pray for the people of Jamaica and for our teams, as we too share the hope of the Gospel.”
About Samaritan’s Purse: Samaritan’s Purse, headquartered in Boone, North Carolina, responds to the physical and spiritual needs of people in crisis, especially in underserved areas. Led by President and CEO Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse works in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disasters, poverty, hunger, and persecution. For more information, visit SamaritansPurse.org.
