Sunday morning, trucks filled with equipment and supplies parked along 5th Avenue, and workers with the North Carolina based Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse began constructing a 68-bed emergency field hospital across from Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Elliott Tenpenny, the team leader of this field operation, tells NY1 state officials approved the plan after Mount Sinai Hospital reached out for assistance.

The field hospital will be composed of a respiratory care unit with ICU capability. Dr. Tenpenny said highly trained doctors and nurses with experience in infectious diseases will be deployed on a rotating basis.