Commentary by Josh Kanary
Currently, the Cleveland Department of
Public Health and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health provide information on
their websites for the H1N1 flu outbreak geared towards specific populations,
including elderly, children and the disabled. However, no information is
provided that specifically addresses unique problems that arise in Cleveland’s
homeless community.
Lutheran
Metropolitan Ministries’ 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter houses nearly 400
people every night in close quarters. These 400 people share the same showers,
restrooms, laundry facilities, and meal area. They sleep in bunk beds that leave
little personal space between one bed and the next. Should one resident become
infected, the virus would easily jump from one person to the next, and then in
the morning, the shelter closes down and sends these 300 of the 400 people out
into the public. Some sort of plan or set guidelines must be made available in
order to assure this potential disaster can be handled as efficiently as
possible.
Los
Angeles, Seattle, Indiana and Vancouver have made guides available for
addressing the handling of a pandemic in their local homeless communities.
Seattle, in particular, released a 32-page plan that details what the city, the
county, and the service providers are responsible for. It offers not only an
explanation of how to care for sick individuals and prevent its spread, but it
also provides guidelines for continuation of service, instructions for what to
train staff for, local resources for stockpiling emergency supplies, how best to
keep sick and healthy people separate in a close quarters environment, how to
handle confidentiality/HIPAA issues, what the city/county is taking care of, and
the importance of collaboration and communication between service providers.
Although
the above resources are readily available on the internet, something needs to be
put in place locally to keep all government and non-profit agencies on the same
page. It is difficult to struggle to survive without a home, but at this time we
do not have a plan to meet the health emergency during an epidemic. Confining
people in a shelter environment in the midst of a pandemic is a death sentence.
Josh Kanary is the former Outreach Coordinator for the Northeast Ohio
Coalition for the Homeless in Cleveland, Ohio.
Copyright Homeless Grapevine Issue #87 in July
2009 in Cleveland Ohio.