SPOKANE, Wash. — “We are just the triage place for people to not die through the night,” says Julie Garcia with the Jewels Helping Hands.
When interviewing the head of the downtown warming center it had been ten days since she was able to see her kids. Garcia and other workers at Jewels Helping Hands have had to distance themselves from family during the coronavirus outbreak. It’s the best they could do to keep their own families safe while taking care of the city homeless.
“They have to have somebody who maintains through this. We are a warming center. It’s what we do.
We will continue to chug along,” says Garcia.
The task of caring for a vulnerable population is even more daunting with the outbreak of COVID-19. Even in the best of times, space can be limited at local shelters. This is even more true for the warming center while trying to maintain social distancing.
The center set-up 36 tents outside to try and keep people apart. It helps slightly with distancing but does little to protect from the weather.
“I know it’s still cold outside. We are trying to make every accommodation we can to keep them warm through the night but we are also trying to keep them alive,” says Garcia.
Help may come in the form of an empty space in the downtown corridor. The city is working with a few local shelters to potentially open the first floor of the downtown library. The building was cleared out for renovations. Now, it’s just an empty space and space is a premium in an era of social distancing.
“It’s the right thing to do,” says Brian Coddington with the city of Spokane. He adds, that some cities have chosen to shutter shelters but Spokane leaders are working to provide more space not less. According to Coddington, the space could open as early as Monday (March 30th). The city would provide the space but the shelter would need to maintain and deliver the services.
Coddington also told KREM 2 news a press conference from the City of Spokane is expected to happen on Monday.
That’s promising news for Garcia and the people at Jewels Helping Hands. The warming center is one of two area shelters considering maintaining an overflow crowd at the downtown library space.
“I think as a city we have to work together, all of us. Every participant. Because, we don’t have enough beds on the regular for the amount of people experiencing homelessness that we have. And now trying to keep a virus at bay in a population that spends all of its time together is proven to be very hard,” says Garcia.
In the meantime, Garcia got a boost from a local business. A four-person crew from Eden Advanced Pest Technologies came to the warming center on Friday and disinfected the building. Keeping the area sanitized has become a challenging job. Three times a day people are asked to vacate the building for 20 to 30 minutes while the staff cleans. Getting a hand from professionals is a bonus at a time of great need.
Garcia and her crew are working against multiple obstacles to keep homeless people in the community healthy and protected. And with COVID-19 it’s a challenge to keep herself healthy as well. “Basically, we will work until we get sick and then someone else will take our place.”