Doctors, nurses, outreach workers defy gathering order to deliver message.
Six Shelter and Housing Justice Network Steering Committee members (the originators of this petition) joined physicians, nurses and outreach workers yesterday, defying the provincial order prohibiting gatherings of more than five people, to deliver the following message to Mayor Tory and Dr. Eileen de Villa. As the picture shows we carefully physically distanced.
"The situation is at a breaking-point. Over 300 doctors and nurse practitioners are calling for immediate COVID-19 outreach testing, physical distancing in all shelters and respites, and the rapid movement of people into hotels, housing and residences. Without this we fear there will be preventable deaths and outbreaks with broad public health implications." says Dr. Michaela Beder, one of the 313 doctors and nurse practitioners who released an open letter to the Mayor yesterday demanding immediate and rapid action.
"We’ve tried polite persuasion, we’ve produced evidence of dangerous conditions, we’ve held news conferences, but the City still isn’t taking it seriously. So now we’re putting ourselves on the line to demand the City rapidly move homeless people into hotels or housing. Time is not on our side and we can’t just watch homeless people get sick and die. The city must act now,” says Yogi Acharya, organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
The City must commit to a rapid and reliable timeline to accomplish the following:
1. Move all homeless people into hotel rooms or housing.
2. Open day shelters to provide access to food, washrooms, showers, laundry, telephones and service referrals.
3. Implement regular and accessible sentinel surveillance mobile or onsite COVID-19 testing at all shelters, respites, and at daytime and 24 hour drop-ins.
4. Connect all homeless facilities to health care workers to ensure effective and accurate screening.
5. Provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to shelter residents exhibiting symptoms and all staff working at homeless facilities.
6. Enable harm reduction services, including witnessed injection, within all hotels and isolation sites.