Homeless charity ‘still on guard’ for COVID-19

Government may be lifting imposed restrictions to allow the country to return to normalcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the charity advocating for the welfare of the homeless has said it is strengthening its efforts to protect this vulnerable group from contracting the highly contagious virus.

President of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) Kemar Saffrey said though the country is no longer under a complete shutdown, the clients who stayed at the BAEH’s Spry Street shelter over the two-month lockdown have been allowed to leave and return on a daily basis.

Saffrey said the homeless are still being encouraged to take part in the services offered by BAEH including the free meals, health checks, and access to face masks and other sanitizing materials, in addition to spending the night at the facility.

Saffrey told Barbados TODAY: “At first, based on the 24-hour curfew we were keeping the homeless in the shelter where they were for about 60 days. When the Government moved on to phase two of reopening the country, we had also relaxed our restrictions and allowed the homeless to go and come back to the shelter daily, but while following the other imposed restrictions.

“But we are still taking care of them. We are making sure that they are fed, making sure they have their masks and other items they would need. They return at 5 p.m. for feeding and then they go straight in. But we are following the physical distancing protocol and just installed point machines for them to take their temperature without anybody having to do it. And we have a machine that sends signals to us indicating if anybody temperature goes over what it is supposed to be.”

He said that while about 70 people stayed at the shelter during the lockdown when the ease in the restrictions came, several of them opted to stay on to receive the rehabilitative services offered by BAEH.

Saffrey explained: “There are a few people in the shelter who would have expressed that they want to go through a rigorous rehabilitation programme. So we have a few men and we have a few women who are currently living at the shelter going through our programme before they go back into mainstream society.

“Some of them did not know about the programme but since being at the shelter because of COVID, a number of them have expressed the interest and they are going through that programme which involves counselling, helping them to get a job, or gain access to welfare assistance, reconnecting them with their family if possible.”

The BAEH president explained that on the heels of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the BAEH is now in the process of preparing for the hurricane season.

He said the organization, which is always in need, is open to receiving continued assistance from corporate Barbados and members of the general public to aid in the efforts.

“We are appealing for any assistance that the general public may want to give to the organization to continue its ongoing work,” he said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb