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Posts categorized under Public Health Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Human Interests

New Healthy Air Center to Open for People Experiencing Homelessness

September 11, 2020

The City of Seattle and King County are opening a temporary shelter to provide respite from unhealthy air conditions. King County is providing the building (1045 6th Ave in SoDo) and HSD will support services via a partnership with Salvation Army. The shelter will serve people experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered. Salvation Army and King County will staff the shelter. The doors will open today at 3:00pm on Friday, September 11, and the shelter will is scheduled to remain open until 8:00 am on Monday, September 14th. The days and time of operation may change based on environmental conditions.

Filed Under: Homelessness, Public HealthTagged With:

Mayor Durkan Announces up to $11.6 Million in Funding for Homeless Service Providers to Help Cover COVID-19 Costs in 2020

September 9, 2020

Mayor Jenny A. Durkan and the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) today announced up to $11.6 million in funding for shelter, day-centers, and permanent supportive housing to help pay for costs incurred during the initial phases of the COVID-19 response and to maintain higher-level services throughout the pandemic. To date, these efforts have resulted in new enhanced shelter capacity, the opening of temporary spaces to de-intensify large congregate shelters, the ongoing operation of day-centers, and support to emergency shelters and permanent supportive housing to meet public health requirements. These program modifications have minimized shelter space loss during the pandemic and have helped homeless service programs to operate safely and without the large-scale spread of COVID-19 like many outbreaks seen in other cities. Throughout the City of Seattle homelessness response network, the City’s efforts have resulted in a positivity rate that is consistent with the rate of positive tests across the general population.

Filed Under: Funding Opportunities, Homelessness, Public HealthTagged With:

‘Prepárate. Hidrátate. / Be Ready. Be Hydrated.’ – Se lanza en Seattle Campaña bilingüe de concientización pública creado por y para la comunidad

August 12, 2020

El Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Seattle (HSD por sus siglas en inglés) se complace en anunciar una campaña de concientización pública nueva: “Be Ready. Be Hydrated. / Prepárate. Hidrátate.” La campaña promueve opciones saludables para contrarrestar las tácticas de mercadeo dirigidas a los/las jóvenes de color por parte de las bebidas… [ Keep reading ]

Filed Under: Affordability & Livability, Public Health, Youth SuccessTagged With:

Be Ready. Be Hydrated. / Prepárate. Hidrátate. – Bilingual Public Awareness Campaign Created By and For Community Launches in Seattle

August 12, 2020

The Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) is pleased to announce a new public awareness campaign: “Be Ready. Be Hydrated. / Prepárate. Hidrátate.” The campaign promotes healthy choices to counter sugary beverage marketing tactics aimed at youth of color and is funded by the Seattle Sweetened Beverage Tax (SBT). Background SBT… [ Keep reading ]

Filed Under: Affordability & Livability, Public Health, Youth SuccessTagged With:

LGBTQ+2S Resilience During the COVID Pandemic

July 20, 2020

Age Friendly Seattle and the Saying It Out Loud Conference have announced the second of two online panel presentations related to COVID and geared to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or two-spirit (LGBTQ+2S). “LGBTQ+2S Resilience: Are we thriving or just surviving during the COVID pandemic?” is a live panel presentation that will take place on Friday, July 31 from 1:00–2:30 p.m. At event time, log on to bit.ly/AgeFriendlyLive. No registration or log-in is required. A phone-in option is also available.

Filed Under: Public HealthTagged With:

City and Community Organizations Made Services Available at the CHOP

July 1, 2020

The City of Seattle’s Human Services Department has been on the ground outside and inside the CHOP since June 23 to support the City’s ongoing efforts to keep the area safe. HSD outreach staff and contracted outreach workers were on site providing outreach and social service resources to those living unsheltered or demonstrating. HSD is continuing this outreach following the closure of the CHOP and Cal Anderson Park earlier today. The area in and around Cal Anderson has historically been an area where unsheltered individuals stay overnight. These unsheltered communities have remained in the area throughout the protest. This outreach effort began following conversations between City leaders, CHOP, Black Lives Matter, and other community leaders and organizers, to ensure community members and demonstrators have access to services. June 23 through today, HSD has made 172 engagements (duplicated) with unhoused individuals, 36 referrals to shelter, and 30 connections to service providers. These figures are preliminary and provide a best snapshot of available data. Outreach staff have also made travel arrangements, provided diversion funds such as hotel vouchers and handed out basic needs, including bottled water and snacks.

Filed Under: Homelessness, Public Health

Free Citywide Testing for COVID-19

June 19, 2020

The City of Seattle, King County, and the UW Medicine are now offering free COVID-19 testing at two drive-up sites across Seattle. If you live, work, or regularly visit Seattle, the City is urging anyone with symptoms or with 15 minutes or longer exposure to someone with COVID-19 within the past two weeks. COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, sore throat, loss of smell, chills, body aches, headache, fatigue, diarrhea, runny nose, and congestion.

Filed Under: Public HealthTagged With:

Update: Continuing to Expand Access to Hygiene Resources, a New Map, and Public Health Support

May 22, 2020

The City of Seattle is set to deploy two shower trailers in locations across the City to support the hygiene needs for homeless residents within their communities. King Street Station will host a shower trailer five days per week, and a mobile shower trailer will be hosted in Lake City and Seattle Center, with more locations under consideration. King Street Station will also receive a hygiene station. In addition, a new hygiene map, located on the Seattle Human Services public website, that represents all open and available facilities was launched with this effort.

Filed Under: Homelessness, Public HealthTagged With:

ICYMI: Continuing to Expand Hygiene Services and Shelter to People Experiencing Homelessness

May 15, 2020

The City of Seattle and King County announced a number of additional steps over the last week to further expand hygiene services and add new shelter spaces for people experiencing homelessness. This expansion of resources is a continuation of ongoing work by the City and County to bring critically needed resources to those most in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Filed Under: Homelessness, Public HealthTagged With:

Following Local Health Directive, City of Seattle Will Provide Face Masks to Vulnerable Communities and Agencies

May 12, 2020

Following Public Health – Seattle & King County’s local health directive, the City of Seattle will provide over 45,000 free cloth face coverings to vulnerable communities and agencies that support these communities, including people experiencing homelessness, shelter providers and clients, low-income older adults, and food bank staff. Throughout this COVID-19 crisis, the City and King County have made it a priority to bring supplies to nearly 30 human services agencies, including critically needed items like surgical masks, N95 masks, gowns, face shields soap, gloves, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies, and clothing. Today’s announcement of new supplies builds on these efforts, following updated public health guidance that instructs all residents to wear face coverings in indoor public settings and outdoors where social distancing is difficult to maintain.

Filed Under: Healthy Aging, Homelessness, Public HealthTagged With: