We’re doing our best to help the community’s vulnerable

Unprecedented is a word I’ve heard more over the last few months than I have in my entire life. For context, we’ve lived through historic hurricanes, oppressive heatwaves, and more political strife in Florida over the last 20 years than many have experienced in a lifetime.

Each instance of extreme distress, be it a weather event or political misfortune, isn’t comparable to what’s happening now. The coronavirus has turned our community upside down and forever altered our way of life.

This virus has brought uncertainty and uneasiness about our collective health, and made the way forward seem hazy. Yet through collaboration and measured leadership, we have been able to carve a path forward.

As the virus came to our state, our local and state leaders jumped into action. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer made adjustments to our bars and restaurants, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings instituted a nightly curfew, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis eventually ordered the state to “shelter-in-place” to slow the spread of the virus.

Because this all moved quickly, our leaders had to make speedy decisions to ensure the safety of our residents. That meant shutting down parts of our economy, and for some of us, the businesses that felt the impact of those decisions were spots of convenience, like restaurants and movie theaters.

But as we adjusted to our new normal and sheltered at home, some of our neighbors didn’t have the option to simply stay home.

Those experiencing homelessness aren’t as fortunate as many of us and had no place to shelter to.

In my capacity as CEO of the Healthcare Center for the Homeless, also known as Orange Blossom Family Health, I, along with many leaders in this sector were tasked with caring for a population that’s transient in the midst of a pandemic. How do we ensure their safety? We do everything that we can to guarantee their health through testing.

We partnered with the City of Orlando and the Homeless Services Network to test about 100 individuals experiencing homelessness in two of our homeless shelters, and I am proud to note that not one individual tested returned a positive result.

Because of the quick decisions by our government and nonprofit leaders, our ability to test early, and our homeless neighbors taking the virus seriously, contributed to the success of keeping those individuals experiencing homelessness healthy. This is in addition to our ongoing efforts of caring for them when there isn’t a pandemic moving through our region.

Furthermore, those experiencing homelessness are still being tested, and should we have an individual to test positive for the virus, we have the ability to quarantine them in a separate, safe space.

In addition to our work with the homeless, we are also taking care of our vulnerable population. In April, I partnered with a local restaurant to give hot meals to our seniors, and in the district I represent as commissioner, we held a food distribution in May where we served more than 700 families and tested 200 individuals for the coronavirus. That was our third food giveaway since the start of the pandemic and first time testing in the district.

We also held a mask giveaway where we gave away hundreds of surgical masks to our residents, and we’re in the process of planning our next food giveaway where we will look to do more testing.

Because what we are facing is unprecedented, our response has to scale up. While many in our community are hurting, we have to do what is in our power as leaders to not only provide leadership but help those who need it most.

For our community, I want you to know that our neighbors experiencing homelessness are being tested and cared for. And our most vulnerable are receiving care and help as quickly as we can plan and provide.

This may be cliché, but it is the truth: we will get through this together. Our community is resilient, and I am proud to see how many of us have stepped up to help our fellow neighbors.

This health crisis may be unprecedented, but we are doing our very best to meet the need of our neighbors.