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June 2020 www.thefloridacatholic.org
YOUR MIAMI COMMUNITY
TOM TRACY
Florida Catholic correspondent
MIAMI Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the CEO of Camillus House homeless shelter in down- town Miami made a quick stop at a local Dollar Store. There, Hilda Fernandez bought up all the store's adult coloring books and colored pencils, along with an assortment of would-be bingo prizes. Those supplies helped keep Camillus' 400-plus residents occupied while socially distancing from the wider community - just a small part of the toolbox that Fer- nandez and her staff have been us- ing to keep the residents safe during quarantine. Six decades after its founding, Camillus House has grown from a small overnight shelter into a full- service center, spread across a se- ries of new buildings and offering a comprehensive system of care for the poor and homeless. Those ser- vices include food, clothing, emer- gency, transitional and permanent housing, physical and mental health care, and substance abuse treatment. At the main site downtown, the center not only houses 400 residents; it also provides a place where the homeless can get a hot meal, take a shower, pick out new clothes and receive and send mail. They can also attend classes, like culinary arts training, and consult with on-site counselors and social workers. But to protect residents and staff from the still-expanding pandemic, the shelter decided early to tightly restrict movement in and out. Staff also determined to screen residents for coronavirus regularly, using a tool from the Centers for Disease Control. Fernandez and her team also drew up an exhaustive list of cam- pus and operational modifications to foster better social distancing and disinfection measures. The coronavirus has continued to hit south Florida especially hard. As of June 7, 2020, Miami-Dade County had 19,756 known cases and 767 deaths. For Broward, the toll on the same date was 7,924 cas- es and 343 deaths.
CONTINUE TO SERVE
Despite the crisis, Camillus House still accepts people into the program if they comply with a co- ordinated entry process put in place by the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and its Homeless Helpline. "We made a decision from the beginning that we would continue to serve," said Fernandez, who also has worked previously with the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. "At the end of the day, we believe [the homeless] are going to be safer in- side our walls than on the street." Once accepted into Camillus House, residents get twice-weekly temperature checks and a weekly interview that includes a question- naire on symptoms. That ongoing screening process takes about two and a half days each week for all 400-plus guests. The clients are also expected to wear masks at all times, Fernandez said. She added that the masks are replaced on a regular basis. "That is a little bit of a challenge, but we are very aggressive in en- forcing that," Fernandez said. If a client appears to show coro- navirus symptoms, they are sent for testing and temporarily isolated in one of six new quarantine rooms at Camillus House. The rooms are ret- rofitted with negative pressure and ultraviolet lighting. If testing proves positive, the client is sent to one of the quarantine hotel rooms with the Homeless Trust. Other safety-related campus modifications at Camillus House include: A series of rented hand-wash- ing stations throughout the facility. Dining hall seating limited to three persons per table, requiring a longer mealtime schedule. Six large ozone cleaners placed in night community areas, includ- ing the kitchen and dining hall. Mobile sprayers to disinfect high-traffic areas near the elevator, dining hall, courtyard, walls, hall- ways and doors. Guests can only leave the prop- erty for medical or other priority ap- pointments. Mental and behavioral health counseling is now conducted through a telehealth video-en- hanced system. Meal service lines are marked off on the floor to indicate at least six feet of space between residents making their way to the dining hall. Dormitory rooms are likewise reconfigured to promote greater social distancing among guests. Camillus has continued its day center services for the street home- less, including breakfast, the mail room, clothing donations and other services. That program has been significantly modified, however, with new protocols to ensure safety and prevent an outbreak. To assist its sister agency, Camil- lus Health Concern, to help chroni- cally homeless and mentally ill liv- ing on the streets, Fernandez said her team set up an outdoor tented station on the property for COV- ID-19 testing. All the extra measures are strain- ing the agency's discretionary funds, with more than $210,000 for coronavirus-related expenses thus far.
Extraordinary efforts to protect the homeless
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407-373-0077 mcarlock@thefloridacatholic.org
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CAMILLUS HOUSE RESPONDS TO COVID-19
And with residents staying on campus more, they are also eating more meals there: on average about 1,200 a day.
NO JOBS
An unfortunate result of the pandemic lockdown has been that Camillus House residents can't ef- fectively do something they may need most: seek jobs at a time when the hospitality and restau- rant industry in particular remains at a standstill. "Our poor clients - a lot of them were moving forward, trying to move on to the next step ... but no one is really hiring for the kind of jobs our clients can get," Fernan- dez said. "It doesn't mean we have stopped helping them look for jobs, it's just a little more challenging for them to get one." Also, more difficult now is the search for client housing. Camillus House residents who were getting ready to move out are finding it a difficult if not impossible climate for apartment searches. The out- side community is a little leery of having people out on the streets, and Camillus House is trying to limit its guests' movement outside the shelter. Volunteers to Camillus House, too, have been asked to stay away at this time, further straining the meal service operation. On a bright note, Camillus House successfully applied for the federal Payroll Protection Program, and moved its annual auction fund- raiser to an online Zoom platform on May 8, 2020. Another fundrais- ing event is set for December. Even as Miami-Dade County re- opens, Camillus House will likely continue its new safety and social distancing protocols, according to Fernandez. "We will continue to have mea- sures in place to ensure that we minimize any risk of infection be- ing brought onto our campus," she said.
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At Camillus House in downtown Miami, guests enjoy a game of dominos in the courtyard during the COVID-19 pandemic. Below, Hilda Fernandez, chief executive officer of Camillus House, makes the rounds with a cart of donated books offered to residents. (PHOTOS BY TOM TRACY FC)
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