Interfaith Works Response to COVID-19

Health and Safety First

The health and safety of Interfaith Works shelter guests and our staff is our highest priority. We manage infectious diseases and practice robust sanitation and disinfection of our spaces at all times, but the unknowns of the COVID-19 epidemic demand vigorous precautions.

Our shelter and Community Care Center guests are at the highest risk for severe illness if they become infected. As of today, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the houseless community or the employees who work with them in Thurston County. 

We are working daily with County and State Public Health officials to ensure that there is a clear and realistic plan for quarantine and treatment options for people experiencing homelessness if an outbreak occurs among the houseless community in Thurston County.

Our Steps to Keep Our Guests and Staff Safe

Additionally, we are taking the following steps to keep our guests and our staff safe:

1. Closely following State and County Health Department recommendations and talking daily with healthcare partners at the Community Care Center like Providence, Valley View, and The Olympia Free Clinic for most up to date recommendations.
2. As of March 12, 2020 we started mandatory and daily screening of all guests at the Community Care Center and the Nightly Shelter to determine if their symptoms meet criteria for testing. Through our partnership with Providence, we are coordinating closely with three clinics who are now testing people in Thurston County. We are arranging for safe transport in the event someone meets the criteria and needs to be seen at a clinic.
3. Increased outreach and information sharing with our staff, partner agencies, and guests who utilize our services about who's at highest risk (older folks, folks of any age who have weakened immune systems or complicating health factors like chronic illness, substance use, and people with lack of access to basic hygiene). We have posted Health Department posters about how to wash hands properly, signs and symptoms, and what to do if someone is symptomatic.
4. All guests and employees are being directed to avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth.
5. All employees who are sick are being directed to stay home whenever possible. We currently offer paid leave for all of our employees, but in addition to their normal accrual, we are creating an internal emergency declaration policy regarding paid leave for employees who may require additional time off to get well.
6. Our services rely on maintaining a safe and adequate staff-to-guest ratio, and we are prepared to modify our hours of operation if we cannot adequately staff any of our programs. This would be a worst-case scenario that we hope would not ever be necessary.
7. All guests and employees are being directed to cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
8. All guests and employees are being directed to wash hands multiple times per day!  To be effective, wash hands for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after nose blowing, coughing, or sneezing.
9. All guests and employees are asked to fist bump, elbow bump, or shoe bump to say hello to people -- no high fives, no handshakes. If they forget, they should wash their hands immediately and avoid touching their face.
10. All guests and employees are being told to get a flu shot if they haven't already.
11. We are making sure that hand sanitizer and disinfectant cleaning supplies are well stocked and promoted regularly.
12. We are buying as many N95 masks as we can and prioritizing them for immune compromised employees and guests at highest risk of severe illness. 
13. We are performing regular bleach wipe-downs of door handles, light switches, table and counter tops, computers, phones and other frequently touched surfaces multiple times on each shift. During daily cleaning shifts at our shelter, we open windows and run fans to promote air flow and ventilation. 
14. All employees are being told to increase their use of protective gloves and to distribute gloves to guests.
15. We are working with partner agencies at the Community Care Center to minimize the congregation of high-risk populations by asking all non-medical providers to stay home or provide service consultations by phone.​
16. We are actively lobbying the State and Local governments to increase allocation of resources to create a clear and culturally relevant plan for increased hygiene access and quarantine for people who are living in shelters, encampments, and sleeping on sidewalks and in doorways.
17. We are suspending group meetings and conducting them online whenever possible. We will be cancelling this month's Program Council and the Homeless Services monthly volunteer training. ​
    

Questions?

Please let us know if you have any questions:
[email protected]
We are sending love and strength to you and your families during this difficult time.

How You Can Help

1. Sign up to bring a meal (either home-cooked or consider food from a local business who might be struggling right now as well), to the nightly shelter and drop it off with staff across the street so we can bring it in and serve it. If you are already signed up, please consider if there are other ways to keep that commitment rather than canceling. We are happy to talk through ideas with you! Check out our volunteer calendar to see what nights we need meals.
   
2. Are you a medical provider or work in a medical office and you could consider donating oral thermometer devices with disposable plastic covers to shelter providers or outreach workers?
3. Do you work for a union who utilizes N95 masks or Personal Protective Equipment and you could consider donating these supplies to us?
4. Do you work for an entertainment company and you have excess bulk wristbands you could consider donating to us? Wristbands are how we are tracking our screening process.
5. Are you healthy, at low risk of transmission and willing to help us with our increased personnel needs due to mandatory screening each day?
6. Contact us if you want to learn more about these options.

Make a Donation

Can you donate to help us cover the additional costs of responding to this pandemic?

The bulk of the public health response to COVID-19 for people experiencing homelessness is falling to front line healthcare and homeless service providers.

We had a large fundraiser planned for this weekend that had to be canceled and this is a big hit to us financially on top of the additional costs.

Thank you in advance for considering a donation. We could not do this work without you.

Meg Martin, MSW, CPC
Executive Director

Whenever we tackle tough issues at Interfaith Works we try to look at cute animals to remind us that everything is still beautiful despite the hardship. Baby kittens do the trick. <3 <3 <3