The France-based organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is headed to Toronto to assist the Inner City Health Associates (ICHA) organization with a new 400-bed homeless shelter expected to open this week.
At least 30 people across Toronto’s overcrowded homeless shelters have tested positive for COVID-19, including 11 residents and 12 staff members at Willowdale Welcome Centre, a centre for refugees. Advocates for the homeless have been putting pressure on the city to move people to temporary homes such as hotels where social distancing is a possibility.
MSF has extensive experience responding to outbreaks like Ebola and cholera. We want to share our knowledge with first responders here in Canada and support #Toronto‘s first #COVID19 recovery site for people experiencing homelessness. https://t.co/hOYeogPXLV
— Naomi Sutorius-Lavoie (@NaomiSutorius) April 14, 2020
Protestors took to city hall today to further stress the urgency for more homeless shelters and a clear timeline. The city has moved hundreds of homeless people to available hotel rooms, but thousands more need shelter.
“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,” said Dr. Michaela Beder, in an open letter to Mayor John Tory, posted online yesterday.
#PandemicSOS @JohnTory Don’t leave homeless people on the streets or in overcrowded and dangerous shelters pic.twitter.com/hcxm2lCilT
— OCAP (@OCAPtoronto) April 15, 2020
MSF typically operates in countries that have no healthcare infrastructure, but the organization is also uniquely poised to provide care for at-risk populations during crises.
“With our extensive experience responding to outbreaks, such as Ebola, cholera, and diphtheria in conflict-affected low-resource areas, we see an opportunity to share our knowledge with first-responders here in Canada to prepare and assist a community that is highly exposed to the virus,” MSF’s executive director Joseph Belliveau said in a recent press release.
ICHA’s drop-in group of 50 nurses and 100 physicians provide mental health, palliative care, and primary care to Toronto’s homeless and are now mainly leading the charge during the current pandemic.
The shelter will be the first homeless site created for people suffering from the impact of COVID-19 and will serve as a much-needed refuge for those with nowhere else to go.
