Samaritan's Purse medical personnel serving in Iraq have treated more severe trauma patients since January than many U.S. hospitals do in a year.
On Friday, March 17, the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital received its 1,000th patient on the Plains of Nineveh, Iraq. Due to its proximity to the frontlines of the Mosul conflict, the hospital is saving lives that would likely have been lost in transport to the nearest permanent medical facilities, up to two hours away.
“This is 1,000 critical and dying patients,” said Dr. Elliott Tenpenny, emergency medical specialist for Samaritan’s Purse. “That is more Level-1 traumas in a matter of months than large hospitals in the United States would see in a year.”

Field hospital staff assess a patient’s injuries.
Iraqi government and coalition forces began their battle for Mosul in October 2016. In January 2017, they gained control of the eastern side of the city, while ISIS continued to launch attacks from across the Tigris River in the west. An offensive to retake western Mosul began in February—Iraqi forces now control major parts of the city while other areas remain occupied by ISIS.
Now back in the United States after serving at the Iraq Emergency Field Hospital, Dr. Tenpenny notes the tremendous impact of this facility as it operates on the outskirts of a war zone.

A patient is taken to the emergency room at the field hospital near Mosul.
In addition to the field hospital, Samaritan’s Purse is working in multiple other ways to help many of the more than 260,000 Iraqis displaced by this crisis since October 2016. In partnership with the World Food Programme, we have distributed around 3,000 metric tons of food to those living in evacuee camps as well as villages recently freed of ISIS. We have also given out medicine, clothing, shoes, and blankets to those who are fleeing ISIS.
Please pray for the Iraqi people and for our teams as they work to alleviate suffering in Jesus’ Name. You can read a blog, “Miracles and Sorrow Mingle Together,” from one of our staff here.

Roughly 40 percent of our patients have been women and children.
