The Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno is ready and willing to help meet any health care needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic, executive director Reza Nekumanesh told GV Wire on Wednesday.

If there is a need for space for more hospital beds for emergency or non-emergency patients, or to conduct testing for the novel coronavirus, or for any other need that arises, the center in northeast Fresno is available, he said.

Nekumanesh announced the center’s availability in an open letter to governmental agencies and health care organizations on Tuesday.

It’s part of ICCF’s ongoing efforts to be pro-active in the community, he said.

Part of Region’s Contingency Planning

Nekumanesh said he hopes that with the social isolation directives already in place, Fresno’s health care facilities won’t be inundated with an unmanageable number of COVID-19 patients.

“We pray that the wave of infection will be gradual so it will not become necessary to use proxy medical facilities and that the threat of COVID-19 will subside and disappear soon,” he said. “However, while we hope for the best, we must together actively plan for the worst.”

The idea to offer the center for health care needs was brought to the center’s board of trustees by Darius Assemi, GV Wire’s publisher and president/CEO of Granville Homes, Nekumanesh said.

The trustees agreed with the proposal, he said, adding, “It was a pretty easy decision.”

Nekumanesh can be reached by email at reza@icfresno.org for further information.