NEWS
BY KIANNA CABUCO
VOLUNTEERS PROVIDE
FLU SHOTS TO THE UNHOUSED
A
handful of local organizations have come togeth-
er to help administer the flu vaccine to people ex-
periencing homelessness.
Bruce Tufts, a registered nurse at White Bird
Medical Clinic and a volunteer at Egan Warm-
ing Center, started a conversation with other volunteers
last year about the role they could play in addition to basic
medical care.
One topic stuck out — access to the flu vaccine. Ac-
cording to Sue Sierralupe, the clinic manger at Occupy
Medical (OM), one of the volunteers at Egan wrote a grant
request to the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, and
they received a $500 grant for the vaccines.
From there, they were also able to partner with the Rite
Aid pharmacy off 29th and Willamette. The pharmacy sold
flu vaccines to Egan at a discounted rate and agreed to store
and administer the vaccines at the building where OM is
currently located as needed.
According to Tufts, they have been able to purchase 25
vaccines so far. “We’re hoping some community members
will donate to Egan Warming Center and specify that they
want it to go to the flu vaccines,” Tufts says.
Many times, homeless individuals don’t have a place
to recover if they get the flu, Sierralupe adds. “They have
to stay on their feet no matter how they’re feeling because
in this community, it is illegal to sleep, sit or stand in one
place,” she says. “It’s called loitering, camping or trespass-
ing.”
The goal is mainly a preventative measure to keep the
flu from hitting the homeless population, and to help give
the unhoused access to the vaccine in an environment
where they feel comfortable.
Homeless
individuals don’t have
a place to recover if
they get the flu.
“It’s the first year and it’s kind of exciting,” Tufts says,
“because so many community members have come to-
gether.”
So far, there are five organizations working together.
Egan Warming Center attained the grant from the Epis-
copal Church of the Resurrection, Rite Aid pharmacy is
storing and administering the vaccines, Occupy Medical
is providing a safe place to receive the vaccine, and White
Bird Medical Clinic is letting OM use its old CAHOOTS
building for the next several months. Tufts and Sierralupe
say they hope to double the partnership by getting 10 dif-
ferent community organizations to collaborate on this is-
sue.
“Please, if you need it, come and get it,” Tufts says of
the flu vaccine.
Volunteers say there is only one requirement to receive
the vaccine: a pulse.
OM is located at 509 E. 13th Avenue, and people will have access to the vac-
cines from noon to 3 pm on Sundays for the rest of November. The White Bird
Medical Clinic is also available for other medical needs and is located off 14th
Avenue and Mill Street. To donate to the vaccine effort go to occupy-medical.
org.
— SUE SIERRALUPE, OCCUPY MEDICAL
BY PAUL NEEVEL
HAPPENING PEOPLE
KRISTIN K. COLLIER
On Sunday, Nov. 20, from noon-2 pm, Tsunami
Books will host a book release celebration for Kristin K.
Collier of Eugene, author of the memoir Housewife:
Home-remaking in a Transgender Marriage. After high
school graduation in Eureka, California, Collier’s planned
odyssey to New York to study theater took her only as
far as Wyoming, where she met the son of a rancher.
They got married and moved to Eugene, where she
studied English and he majored in architecture at the
UO. They both found work, in autism care and
architectural design, respectively, and she gave birth to
two sons, Trinidad and Sam, in 2000 and 2003.
“Thirteen years ago, my husband told me he wanted to
wear women’s clothes,” she says. “It was shocking. And
I thought I was open-minded.” Her book chronicles his
transformation from husband and father to Seda Collier,
her transgender female parenting partner, and the
changes it has brought to their family, in a series of
episodic chapters, poems and blog posts. Their
household now includes Kristin’s romantic partner
Richard Bartlett, a chef who cooks for the family five
days a week. “I wanted to share a story of how to deal
with such a transition compassionately,” says Collier,
who spent seven years writing the book while working
full-time as social group coordinator for Bridgeway
House, serving autistic children. “I feel that the book
relates to everyone. We all have transitions in our
relationships and need to cultivate resilience.” At 3 pm
that same afternoon, Collier will be a keynote speaker
at a Transgender Day of Remembrance event at the
Hult Center, honoring those killed due to anti-
transgender hatred.
Restaurant now open
5:30 pm daily
lewisandclarkeugene.com
eugeneweekly.com • November 17, 2016
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