Prime Healthcare Equipment Donation Saves Lives in Africa and Central America

ONTARIO, Calif., Aug. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lives are being saved through Prime Healthcare's generous donation of more than $2 million of medical equipment to Samaritan's Purse and their World Medical Mission.  Anesthesia machines, IV pumps, infant incubators and more were sent to Monrovia in Liberia, Africa, as well as Honduras and Guatemala. This is the second impactful donation that Prime Healthcare has made to support Samaritan's Purse, a humanitarian organization that provides aid to people in physical need around the world.

"It is both an honor and a pleasure to partner with Samaritan's Purse," said Dr. Prem Reddy, MD, FACC, FCCP, Chairman, President and CEO of Prime Healthcare.  "We are able to donate life-saving equipment that is no longer in use at our hospitals with the hope of serving more patients and saving lives in communities around the globe.  Every person should have access to quality medical care, and it is a humbling experience to be a small part of the solution." 

This was an especially important and long awaited donation, as many of the items bound for Liberia were delayed due to the Ebola outbreak.  The shipment to the newly renovated ELWA Hospital was held up because the facility served as "ground zero" while Samaritan's Purse volunteers worked day and night to combat the spread of the disease.  The threat has now been contained, the donated equipment arrived, and the grand opening of the newly renovated 100-bed hospital, which serves over 100 inpatient beds and over 100 daily outpatients from the region, will take place in October. Services at the hospital include an emergency room, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, radiology, dental, pharmacy, and lab. 

"Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world with little to no medical infrastructure," said Ken Isaacs, Vice President of Programs and Government Relations for Samaritan's Purse. "The generous donations from Prime Healthcare are vital in helping ELWA Hospital expand its reach and improving the quality of medical care available to the people of Liberia."

In addition to the shipment to Africa, large containers filled with equipment were sent to Loma de Luz Hospital in Honduras and included a number of items donated by Prime Healthcare including an anesthesia machine with monitors, digital thermometers, oxygen concentrator, suction pumps, defibrillator, IV pumps, a hematocrit centrifuge, infant incubators, baby scales and an electrosurgical unit.

Two other containers were shipped to Guatemala.  One was sent to Hospital Shalom in the Peten region of Guatemala in November of 2015 and a second to Vine International's medical warehouse in Guatemala City in March of 2015.  The long list of equipment delivered included EKG machines, an anesthesia machine, colonoscope, suction pumps, orthopedic drill set and more.

Prime Healthcare looks forward to continuing its partnership with Samaritan's Purse and their World Medical Mission, which places volunteer physicians, dentists, medical personnel and critically needed medical equipment and supplies in their medical mission facilities around the globe.  For more information visit www.samaritanspurse.org. 

About Prime Healthcare:
Prime Healthcare is an award-winning national hospital system with 43 acute-care hospitals providing nearly 43,000 jobs in 14 states. Eleven of the hospitals are members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)3 public charity. Based in California and one of the largest hospital systems in the country, Prime Healthcare is committed to ensuring access to quality healthcare. Prime Healthcare and its hospitals have been recognized as among the "100 Top Hospitals" in the nation 36 times and among the "15 Top Health Systems" three times, and Prime is the only "10 Top Health System" west of the Mississippi. Prime Healthcare hospitals are annually recognized as "Top Performers on Key Quality Measures" by The Joint Commission. For more information, please visit www.primehealthcare.com.

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SOURCE Prime Healthcare

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