Boston Medical Center is ending a policy that has allowed dozens of homeless families, mostly newly arrived migrants, to stay overnight in the hospital on many nights over the past year.
The hospital now prevents families from seeking refuge there unless they need medical treatment. Instead, the hospital reroutes them to other facilities after a record spike in the number of people staying there, according to Markeisha Marshall, a spokeswoman for BMC.
Supporters say the hospital has provided some families with one-way transportation to Logan Airport, because it’s always open and has security, restrooms and options for people to buy food.
We have had numerous conversations with state, city and community leaders, informing them of the real security risk posed by sheltering so many people, the disruption to normal hospital operations and the impact on our ability to respond to emergencies, he said an internal official email sent by BMC CEO and President Alastair Bell to staff on Monday evening and obtained by WBUR.
One night last week, more than 130 people slept on the floor in one of BMC’s lobbies. The hospital says it is providing travel vouchers for families to go to relatives, churches and other safe places that are open all night. Many of the families have just arrived from Haiti and have nowhere else to go. It was not immediately clear how many families were sent to the airport.
The Cooperative, a social services organization in Chelsea, is now supporting some of them. Our first family arrived from the airport [on Wednesday], said Dinanyili Paulino, chief operating officer of La Colaborativa. State police have left some of the families [that] they needed shelter.
The hospitals’ choice to send families there is driven by desperation, said Geralde Gabeau, executive director of the Immigrant Family Services Institute, a Mattapan-based social services agency that serves many Haitian families. She added that the airport is a worst-case scenario solution for refugees, asylum seekers and other immigrants.
People don’t want to see an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officer or people in uniform with those big dogs, Gabeau said. So those are situations that are going to create more traumatic experiences for those families that have been through so much already.
On Tuesday, about 20 community and health workers rallied on Boston Common to demand a faster response from state and federal agencies.
We are here to tell the state that current solutions are insufficient, unrealistic and unsustainable, leaving hospitals, public spaces, shelters, clinics and community organizations to crumble under the weight of demand, said Emily Swisher-Rosa, a midwife at BMC , to the small crowd.
He said BMC was put in a very difficult situation.
They’ve done their best, but the state really needs to step it up, he said.
Several homeless-focused advocates, including the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, have previously called for the state to open a day-care center that is always operational.
Others at the rally, including Karen Cullen, also a nurse midwife at BMC, urged Governor Maura Healey to declare a state of emergency.
It can open up funding that might not otherwise be available so that hotels in our area, near the hospital, can open floors, Cullen said. His patients often struggle to access care, he said, once they leave the BMC.
State officials say they are actively evaluating options to expand shelters and shelter capacity to meet the growing needs of families experiencing homelessness, according to a statement by Karissa Hand, the governor’s press secretary.
Jennifer Mehigan, a spokeswoman for Massport, which manages Logan, was initially unaware that the hospital had sent migrants to the airport about the situation. She said a couple of families were seen in Logan Tuesday afternoon.
The airport would not be an appropriate place to host people, he said.
Boston City Councilman Ruthzee Louijeune met with several Haitian families who had previously been sent to the airport and are now being helped by La Colaborativa in Chelsea.
They are asking questions. They’re trying to figure out how to navigate, how to figure out our systems, she said. I think people are grateful to get some level of care not to mention the trauma they live with every day.
Massachusetts is the only state with a legal obligation to provide shelter for eligible families. However, the application process for a state-run family shelter can be lengthy and difficult to navigate.
As of July 10, 4,790 families are in shelters or hotel rooms through the state shelter system. Another 54 families are in temporary shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod. Demand for housing has increased significantly in the past year, given the high cost of housing and the increase in the number of families arriving in the state from other countries . It can take multiple days, and sometimes even longer, to settle into a shelter or hotel room.
Thus, in record numbers, families showed up in hospital emergency rooms just because they needed shelter. Doctors and hospital administrators have said this arrangement is bad for families and puts a strain on the medical system.
However, until recently the situation had become the norm as hospitals adapted to provide food for families as well as bedding and social care services. Meanwhile, hospital leaders have repeatedly reiterated to the state the extent of the homelessness crisis and the need for further action.
In late June, the state opened a new Family Welcome Center in Allston, but does not offer overnight shelter, closing at 8:00 pm on weekdays and 7:00 pm on weekends.
We appreciate the actions the state has taken to date, Bell said in the internal memo, but unfortunately short- and long-term shelter resources continue to be substantially inadequate in the face of this growing humanitarian crisis.
With reporting by WBUR’s Christine Willmsen and Steve Brown
#Boston #Medical #Center #ends #policy #allowing #migrant #families #shelter #overnight
Image Source : www.wbur.org