KANSAS CITY, Mo. — While health officials and the government are urging people to stay home and stay healthy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, that's not an option for people experiencing homelessness.
"This is a sanctuary. We need to keep it a sanctuary," said Jaysen Van Sickle, executive director of Hope Faith Ministries at Admiral Boulevard & Virginia Avenue.
Hope Faith is a day center for the homeless. They serve around 300 people a day. They're people who need a place to rest, get a meal, send mail, use the phone, and be connected to life-sustaining social services.
"If you think about it, we're the front line," Van Sickle said.
Hope Faith and other shelters can't shut down.
"We have to be open exactly for that purpose. A lot of our guests don't have homes. We have to make sure that we take those extra steps," Van Sickle said.
That means cleaning every surface and handle every hour and encouraging people to sit further apart.
Every person who walks through the door is screened for symptoms and will have their temperature taken by a no-touch infrared thermometer.
If someone has a fever, they will not be able to spend the day at Hope Faith and will be connected to services from there.
It also means canceling medical and dental appointments until further notice. That's where other outreach groups step in, such as Care Beyond the Boulevard.
Jaynell "KK" Assmann and her group give medical care in the streets.
"My concern is that once someone who is living on the streets gets the virus, it's going to run pretty rampant, just because of the lack of sanitation available," KK said.
They, too, are limiting interactions and screening patients and volunteers.
If a volunteer has a 100.5 temperature or above, they will be asked to go home and get better. A patient with a temperature will be given a mask and connected to medical services.
Many people experiencing homelessness may not have access to the best hygiene practices and live with compromised immune systems. However, the Coalition to End Homelessness said the greatest threat to a coronavirus outbreak in the homeless community are volunteers or people on the "outside" because they move around and travel more.
These agencies are figuring out how to best serve a vulnerable population with a shortage of flu test kits and hygiene products.
"Hygiene is central to this and not having access to those things causes anxiety anyway," said Marqueia Watson, programs director with the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness. "We're trying to dispel some of that anxiety around being able, at a minimum, to keep our hands clean and eat in clean conditions."
Watson said flu test kits are very expensive and mostly unavailable, however they serve as an elimination tool for medical providers like KK who are trying to diagnose symptoms.
They encourage people who have hoarded items to consider donating.
"Hand sanitizer is almost nonexistent. A group of us got together yesterday to put together some COVID care packages for our patients and we were able to put together about 400 packages," KK said.
KK also encourages groups that hold weekly food distributions, like Free Hot Soup, to have people stand six feet apart in line and give out sack meals, which are easier to grab and go.
The homeless coalition is working on plans to establish a center where homeless folks could be quarantined should an outbreak occur. Watson said the glaring issue is that there's a lack of space in the city's shelter system.
They are receiving constant updates from the federal government. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a coronavirus relief bill, but the draft does not include any funding that would help the homeless.
Their outreach must continue, KK said, because for someone living on the streets, coronavirus could add on to an already long list of fears.
"It's just a different level of suffering that many of us truly can't understand," KK said.
Healthy people are still encouraged to volunteer their time. Donations such as soap, hygiene products, hand sanitizer, and medical masks are much needed.
—
