UPO "Shelter
Hotline" Saves Lives Moving Homeless
to Area Facilities
It’s no secret
that Washington, DC has one of the most brutal winter seasons
around in the nation. Temperatures often fluctuate, causing individuals
exposed to the elements to quickly succumb to the severe cold.
The need for a close and cohesive
partnership between the DC government and private organizations
becomes even more evident when one realizes that people in this
region aren’t used to very cold arctic temperatures.
It is to save these lives that UPO established a Hypothermia Hotline
(now called Shelter Hotline), to give homeless individuals and
families an opportunity to move into a shelter facility especially
when temperatures reach bone-chilling cold.
Shelter Hotline is now a part of the agency’s Office of Community
Programs.
In another example of public-private partnerships, local area
citizens and the DC Government, noting an alarming number of hypothermia
related deaths, quickly came together to create a means by which
homeless persons would be given the opportunity to be transported
to a warm shelter on the very cold days/nights.
The UPO Hypothermia Hotline was born to provide that needed service.
Today, Shelter Hotline vans are ready 24-hours per day, seven
days per week, moving throughout all neighborhoods in the District
of Columbia.
According to Ruth Walker, program director, the hotline swings
into action especially when temperatures reach 32-degrees or below
with wind chill.
To avoid deaths, Shelter Hotline drivers make every attempt to
convince homeless individuals to ride in the specially outfitted
van to a nearby warm shelter facility. When, for whatever reason
a homeless person refuses transport, he/she will receive offers
of warm clothes, blankets, as well as hot soup.
Funded by the DC Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness,
the UPO activity employs 16-workers.
During a one-year period, Shelter Hotline received more than 18,000
calls mainly from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. An estimated 12,275
individuals were transported to area shelters over that same one-year
period.
Families with children are transported to DC Village located in
southwest Washington, DC.
If a person is hypothermic, the DC emergency response unit is
immediately called.
###
Other articles in this issue
---
1. Celebrating
the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
More that 1000 United Planning Organization
friends and supposters joined together ...
5. UPO "Shelter Hotline"
Saves Lives Moving Homeless to Area Shelters
It's no secret that
Washington, DC has one of the most brutal winter seasons around
...
UPO REPORTER
Published by the United
Planning Organization
401 M Street, SW Washington, DC 20024
President: Russell D. Simmons
Executive Director: Benjamin Jennings
Writer/Editor: Harvey N. Johnson III
Click here for main "REPORTER" page
