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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2017)
Page 10 Street Roots • October 6-12, 2017 News HYGIENE, from page 7 eating well, not sleeping well. God knows what kind of contaminants they’re picking property, that contains two shower stalls. up. The center began offering showers a year Once someone has taken a shower and ago, and Mason hopes to start offering the used Urban Rest Stop’s other services, service again to the center’s clientele in the Gilboa said, it’s hard to tell if they’re coming weeks. homeless. Fifteen minutes of hot water and a private “They’re not unlike anybody else in town shower makes a huge difference in clients’ with a backpack, and there are a lot of lives, Mason said. people who have backpacks and rain jackets “Looking at the look on clients’ faces was in Seattle,” she said. amazing,” she said. “Saying it was a blessed Urban Rest Stop does not operate any outlook is not overstating it. We knew it was mobile shower units, but Gilboa said it is going to make people feel something the agency is good.” thinking of adding. Mason said the " In c re a s in g access f® O o n n i Gilboa, the Clackamas Service JA general manager of h y g ie n e is c h a n g in g th e Center is considering Seattle’s Urban Rest p u b lic s p e rc e p tio n @1 taking its shower cart to Stop, does not mince w h a t houseless p e o p le are remote locations such as words when she speaks camps, but there are c a p a b le o f a n d h o w th e y of the importance of logistical challenges, such s lio n ld be ca re d fo r a n d hygiene to homeless as limited water and people. e m p o w e re d to ca re lo r time. “We are keeping th e m e e lw s /1’ The Village Coalition, people alive, safe, clean OAV1B B1KMAOS which builds and and healthy,” she said. STEER!NG C O M M IT T E E C H A IR , supports tiny-house V IL L A G E C O A L IT IO N The outbreak of the potentially fatal The Low Income villages, is working with a disease, which attacks the liver, began in Housing Institute opened private philanthropist to November 2016 and has resulted in the its first Urban Rest Stop build a solar-powered tiny deaths of 17 people and the hospitalization in Seattle in 1999. Today, house, on a trailer, that contains a shower of more than 400, the large majority of there are three such hygiene centers and a washer and dryer. The coalition was them homeless. The Centers for Disease offering showers, laundry services and instrumental in starting Portland’s newest bathrooms. Control and Prevention said earlier this year homeless village, the new Kenton Women’s that the outbreak represented the most Gilboa estimates that since opening, Village in the Kenton neighborhood. Urban Rest Stops have served more than deaths of any outbreak in the United States Bikman said the hygiene trailer can be 100,000 people. Each year, the program in the past 20 years. built for less than $8,000, and the first one serves between 5,500 and 6,500 people. Hepatitis A is spread through water and will be used at Right 2 Dream Too, a Half of those people, Gilboa said, are clients food contaminated by human feces. It is homeless village in inner Northeast who had never used Urban Rest Stop’s easily preventable and “closely associated Portland, in the coming weeks. services before. with unsafe water or food, inadequate “Increasing access to hygiene is changing Each client is allowed a 15-minute shower sanitation and poor personal hygiene,” the public’s perception of what houseless in a stall also containing a toilet, a sink and according to the World Health Organization. people are capable of and how they should a place to safely store possessions. San Diego declared a public health be cared for and empowered to care for After each use, the stalls and bathrooms emergency in September and has begun themselves,” he said. are cleaned with bleach and water, and the power-washing sidewalks with bleach and air is cleaned with an electrostatic purifier. water, as well as opening public restrooms The cleaning measures are cheap and his past year, San Diego suffered a and hand washing stations. Police are also necessary, Gilboa said. deadly outbreak of Hepatitis A, notably sweeping parts of downtown where nearly “We’re dealing with people who live among the homeless population, illustrating 1,000 homeless people have camped. outside,” she said. “Their immune systems the extreme consequences of not providing Gilboa could hardly contain her “nausea are compromised. They’re under stress, not hygiene services. and anger” when she learned of the • o C E N T R A L C IT Y BOARD ELECTIONS T ilT 'ÏS È OCT 9, 2017 6:30-7PM 1 general meeting C O FFEE ¿Dhink utelL £)a good. Sourcing & roasting craft coffee to benefit programs at Central City Concern. IN STORES New Seasons Market, Whole Foods, Food Front Cooperative Grocery, Green Zebra, Chuck's Produce, Food Fight!, Cherry Sprout Produce, and Know Thy Food. AT YOUR OFFICE Interested in serving Central City Coffee at your office? Get in touch with us and we can help you make that happen. 503.226.7387 7-8PM ON OUR WEBSITE Buy Central City Coffee online and have it election meeting shipped directly to you or a friend. Methodist Church Portland, Oregon Get your espresso favorites at Old Town's newest spot (201 NW Davis Street), featuring Central City Coffee! AT KASBAH MOROCCAN CAFE montavillapdx.org P H O T O C O U R T E S Y OF A R T A POTTIES ■■■■ ■■■■■■■ • T NEIGHBORHOOO ASSOCIATI Public “A rta Potties” in Oregon City are painted over with scenes o f the city's history. Follow our Facebook page for updates and specials. centraldtycoffee.org facebook.com/CentralCityCoffee coffee@ccconcern.org outbreak, not only because the outbreak was easily preventable but also because of the cost of hospitalizations and other responses. “You could have built a chain of Urban Rest Stops,” she said. Whether an Urban Rest Stop-style hygiene center will be built in Portland remains to be seen. The main recommendation of the PSU survey is to build a hygiene center open seven days a week for at least 12 to 14 hours, providing showers, bathrooms, laundry facilities, and storage or locker space. Lisa Hawash, the Portland State University professor who spearheaded the hygiene survey, said she is developing a business plan for a hygiene center in the Portland area. “There is a sense of urgency with thoughtfulness,” she said. “We have a civic responsibility to take care of people ... to sustain people, (so they can) get into housing,” Gilboa said. “End of discussion.”
