Originally published on April 5, 2021 6:10 am
In the final days of March, the Oregon Health Authority opened up coronavirus vaccine eligibility to more high-risk groups of Oregonians including people experiencing homelessness.
Health officials and homeless service providers are now teaming up to roll out COVID-19 vaccination to unhoused people, in hopes of overcoming the barriers they face not only to accessing vaccines but to health care in general. The efforts come on the heels of a particularly isolating pandemic year for the homeless community.
“If you look around the city, look around the county, a lot of things are shut down. And unfortunately, that means a lot of programs and services are shut down as well,” Do Good Multnomah’s Eboni Brown told OPB.
Robert Gehrke: Utah needs a workable, certain path for homeless residents, even if that means another shelter
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Robert Gehrke.
| April 5, 2021, 12:04 p.m.
The pandemic has thrown everything about our lives into turmoil, and how we help homeless Utahns is no exception.
This past year, providers scrambled to accommodate the need to socially distance. They reduced beds at the resource centers and lined up overflow shelters and hotel rooms, a patchwork of improvised solutions to keep people safe from the elements and the coronavirus.
They managed to pull it off, to a remarkable degree.
And, while COVID-19 certainly complicated things, it’s not all that different from where we were a year prior, when a winter overflow shelter had to be set up at the old Deseret Industries building in Sugar House.
Johnny Olszewski proposes legislation to establish Baltimore County housing department capitalgazette.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capitalgazette.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Pamplin Media Group - Plans for N Portland homeless shelter surprises residents pamplinmedia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pamplinmedia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.