Flagstaff Shelter Services- Helping the Most Vulnerable
FLAGSTAFF — Flagstaff Shelter Services believes that housing is healthcare. By simply not having a home, a person is medically vulnerable. In light of COVID-19, hundreds of neighbors experiencing homelessness are at significant risk in northern Arizona. The communal nature of emergency shelter also brings about questions surrounding public health. People might be wondering how we are working to protect our shelter guests and staff from infectious diseases, and how they can help.
While we are responding to a fast-paced and changing problem like the rest of our community, we do not have the option to close our services. In fact, we are seeing an even greater need arise. We are working directly with Coconino County and the Flagstaff City Government to make sure that we respond to any issue as they arise for the safety of our guests, staff and our community.
Flagstaff Shelter Services follows the guidance of the CDC and the National Alliance to End Homelessness for preventing and managing the spread of infectious disease in our emergency shelter. We offer co-located services on site each day from partners such as North Country Healthcare and local nurse practitioners. Our shelter staff follows a strict sanitation schedule that involves wiping down all services hourly, providing access to hygienic supplies and laundering every bedding item, every day. We have also worked to educate our guests that may not even have been aware of the public health issues on our horizon. We have worked to increase our supply of sanitation supplies such as liquid soap, hand sanitizer, masks, gloves and bleach.
With that said, we anticipate the need to bring on more staff and supplies to respond should our 24-hour staff become ill. Because of this increase, we are asking the community to consider making a donation of supplies or funds to our organization. We cannot respond to this public health crisis without public help, so please visit www.flagshelter.org/donate today to support these services. Email hello@flagshelter.org for more information.
About Flagstaff Shelter Services: Flagstaff Shelter Services is the largest emergency shelter in Northern Arizona. Our doors are open to all in crisis, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We provide overnight shelter for all individuals experiencing homelessness regardless of sobriety or any other medical conditions. Then our Housing Case Managers provide supportive and stabilization services to our clients to find and maintain housing. 80% of our housed clients remain stably housed today. Find out more about Flagstaff Shelter Services at https://flagshelter.org/whatwedo/