‘It hasn’t been easy:’ Inter-Agency Response to COVID-19 working to keep vulnerable sector safe

The community continues to step up in the face of COVID-19, especially when looking at Saskatoon’s most vulnerable.

As the threat of COVID began in Saskatchewan, members of many of Saskatoon’s inner-city, community-based organizations banded together to create the Inter-Agency Response to COVID-19.

The group has been able to share ideas and communicate through some of the daunting tasks the pandemic created through COVID-19.

An example of the group’s work was on display just last week.

Both Prairie Harm Reduction and the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre had to shut down due to COVID-positive staff members. This effectively eliminated Pleasant Hill’s lone warmup location in Prairie Harm Reduction.

But the work through the community ensured that Saskatoon’s most vulnerable were able to find some warmth through some cold winter days.

According to Lyn Brown, the executive director of Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership and a member of the group, when one resource for the sector is eliminated or can’t stay open, it puts more pressure on other resources that remain standing.

“We’ve been experiencing, I would have to say, intense pressure within our vulnerable sector community because of COVID,” she said.

“We’ve also seen some really great collaboration … When White Buffalo (Youth Lodge) was dealing with an outbreak, OUTSaskatoon was able to mitigate some of that by providing some extra services. The opportunity to talk amongst ourselves as agencies and to try and mitigate is absolutely fantastic these days.”

With COVID, the cold-weather strategy had to be altered for the vulnerable population, said Brown.

“Some of those warmup locations, in the past, that might have been able to house 10 to 12 to 15 people are now only able to perhaps bring in four because of the social-distancing requirements,” she said, before commending organizations such as Middle Green House for All Nations and Partners Living with AIDS for stepping up and providing warmup space in Prairie Harm’s absence.

“That has helped. We’re not going to have the same number of spaces and the same capacity, even with those increased services, but we continue to speak with other organizations as well that are interested in stepping up and providing some space.”

It wasn’t just Prairie Harm Reduction’s closure that hit the vulnerable sector last week. The Saskatoon Food Bank had a staff member test positive for COVID-19 weeks ago, with close contacts sent home immediately.

The food bank kept the doors open, until Nov. 23. After additional cases of COVID, food bank executive director Laurie O’Connor said the doors had to be closed due to a lack of staff from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27.

She told 650 CKOM the food bank simply couldn’t operate with the available staff.

“We certainly understand that that would have been a big strain on community members who access our emergency food program and other programs here as well as on agencies who support vulnerable folks in Saskatoon. We felt it was necessary for us to close,” she explains.

“It’s a difficult decision to make … especially during a pandemic (and) especially as we head towards the holiday season. Those things were all very difficult decisions to make.”

O’Connor said people were patient, but through work with the Inter-Agency Response, demand was covered by those throughout the group.

“It was good because we could get information to other agencies quickly about our closure, what that means for them and also messaging around where folks might turn with us closed,” she said.

The organization was able to reopen on Monday. In total, it had four positive cases within its staff members.

Jason Mercredi poses for a photo outside of the safe consumption site minutes following its official opening to the public on Oct. 1, 2020. (Brady Lang/650 CKOM)

Going back to Pleasant Hill, Prairie Harm Reduction says it’s preparing to reopen to the public Monday after a deep clean of the facility Friday.

Executive director Jason Mercredi said his staff has all been isolating. After testing, three members of the staff were COVID-positive, so they’ll have to continue to isolate for a bit more.

The organization focuses on saving lives. So how tough was it for staff members to stay home over the isolation period?

“It hasn’t been easy,” Mercredi said. “We get messages from staff; they’re eager to be back in the mix. We know that we’re needed and people rely on us. We’re just excited to get back in there.

“But it definitely hasn’t been easy just sitting at home. I feel like we’re all getting a little stir crazy and needing to get back and do what we do best, which is supporting people.”

He said he saw the other agencies step up in Prairie Harm’s absence. He commended Station 20 West, which ended up making a conference room available and opened on weekends to help out the city’s warmup strategy.

Through it all, Mercredi said the goal of helping the city’s most vulnerable has not been lost.

“We work in a COVID bubble, but we’re all interconnected in terms of how we support the community,” he said. “It’s nice to see organizations step up and really get active, doing really good work for folks.”

Absence of provincial help being felt by the vulnerable sector

Through all the collaborative work that the Saskatoon Inter-Agency Response to COVID-19 has done, one piece of the puzzle is still missing.

There is a lack of help from the province, according to some of the organization’s members.

“We’ve had many months as a province to have a plan in place to support vulnerable folks,” said O’Connor. “Many of us are concerned about the safety and the security of community members here in Saskatoon, especially in the neighbourhoods where we work.

“I see no information around a co-ordinated response to how we keep folks safe (and) how we can support some of their needs when agencies like ours close their doors … It affects so many aspects of people’s lives.”

O’Connor said there have been informal talks she has been a part of with the province, but nothing formal in nature. She said many Saskatoon agencies are doing their work thanks in part to donors, but not provincial funding.

“I don’t think that the response to the crisis should only lay at (donors’) feet … I truly believe that leadership is needed at the provincial level with a specific focus on those who are most vulnerable in our province,” she said.

“We understand that a strong economy is important. But really, an economy will falter without all of its citizens well-cared for, and participating in it.”

Brown echoed those comments, saying she hasn’t had direct conversations with the government to date. She said she’d invite that conversation and wants the province to help bring resources to the table to further mitigate the COVID situation with Saskatoon’s vulnerable population.

In an emailed statement, Jeff Redekop — the executive director of income assistance service delivery with the Ministry of Social Services — praised the community-based organizations for the work they’ve done during the pandemic.

He pointed out the ministry converses regularly with those organizations to “identify issues and highlight what’s working well as we support individuals and families to access the services they need.”

“Last week, we met with representatives from a number of Saskatoon CBOs to see how they are doing, share information and continue the collaborative approach in support of those in need,” Redekop added.

“We remain open to discussions and continue to meet with our CBO partners as we work together to navigate the new and evolving challenges brought on by COVID-19 while ensuring people continue to receive the services they need.”

The government recently announced a funding boost of $171,000 for emergency shelters in the province to help them deal with their clients during the time of COVID-19. Funding for emergency shelters under contract with the ministry amounts to about $4 million annually.