Shepherds of Good Hope is in the news

It's been a good week for Shepherds of Good Hope when it comes to media coverage.

One of the ways to show you what type of impact we're making in the community with your donation is to tell stories. When we can get some of those stories out through newspapers and radio, it gives us a different way to reach you. Lots of people still listen to radio or read a newspaper.

Today, Ottawa Citizen columnist Kelly Egan wrote a column on the TESP diversion program. Some of you might remember that back in June we introduced a new protocol for paramedics. They no longer have to bring a homeless person to the hospital ER. We have health staff at our shelter and we can help homeless men and women with certain needs. I'll let you read the column to discover how beneficial this is.

We also have Alison Sandor at CFRA who profiled the managed alcohol program at The Oaks. This is a very innovative program that has attracted attention from around the world. Again, I'll let you read the story to find out what makes this program so exciting.

I'm hoping that when you read these stories you'll appreciate the impact your donation has on the men and women who have so little but need so much. The three most important things we do with your donation is provide shelter, food and clothing. But Ottawa's homeless men and women need so much more if they are going to find a way out of shelter life and into their own housing.

That's what your donation accomplishes. If you would like to see first-hand the impact your donation has, please call me for a tour of our facilities at 613-789-8210, ext. 247, or reach out by e-mail at asilverman@shepherdsofgoodhope.com.

Giving hope to homeless women in Ottawa

When I talk about the services we provide for women, a lot of people are surprised we are the only homeless shelter that accepts women. Other shelters will feed them, but they don't give them a place to sleep. There are reasons for that, but at Shepherds of Good Hope, we made a decision we were going to be there for Ottawa's most in-need people and gender wasn't going to be an issue.

There are several different programs we run for women. We have a 60-bed shelter for women and transgendered individuals who are 18 years of age or older.

While they're here, the women have access to medical staff, counsellors and outreach workers. We also have a women's special care unit. It's a 16-bed unit for women with more challenging medical issues.

Although those are dedicated services to women, all of the programs we offer to Ottawa's homeless population are there for men and women. For example, there are women in our Worker Program. There are women in TESP.

Finally, we have Brigid's Place, a housing first facility with room for 11 women. These are women who can live independently but still need support services in place.

Like all of our programs, we staff them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you want to learn more about the services we provide to women or book a tour, please don't hesitate to call or e-mail me. 613-789-8210, ext 247. Email: asilverman@shepherdsofgoodhope.com.

How we help women

There was an article in the Ottawa Sun today about the number of women who rely on shelters.

The people who run the shelters say space is tight and that they are sometimes forced to turn women away. When we think of women's shelters, we most often think of safe places for women to go when they are trying to escape an abusive relationship. It's a sad fact that domestic abuse is still a problem in our country.

When people think of Shepherds of Good Hope, many don't know that we are the only homeless shelter that provides services to both men and women. Every night, there are as many as 100 women in our various programs. Some of those women are escaping a violent relationship and have nowhere else to go. They have a terrible choice. Be homeless or stay in danger. Thankfully, Shepherds is another resource for these women.

For other women, their homelessness is a consequence of other factors. They might be suffering from mental illness and/or dealing with addiction issues. It could be they simply can't find good enough employment to allow them to be on their own in their own homes.

The women come to us from different backgrounds, for different reasons, and with different challenges to address. Our Hope Outreach Emergency Shelter for Women has room for 60 women every night.

In addition to providing a safe bed, we have other services in place. We have TESP (transitional emergency shelter program). The women who are part of this program are chronically homeless and have had severe physical and mental health issues. In TESP, they are cared for by trained health care professionals, counsellors and case management workers.

We also have a dedicated Women's Special Care Unit with 16 beds for women who are suffering from severe health conditions. Sometimes our role is to provide treatment, other times it's to coordinate it with the women's existing health care providers. We also provide assessments and referrals for addiction counselling. We help them with housing and we provide life skills, things like how to keep a room clean, how to shop for groceries, skills we take for granted.

Finally, we have Brigid's Place, a housing first complex. There are 11 women who live there. These women have spent a considerable amount of time living on the street. They did what they had to do to survive. Brigid's Place gives them a safe haven where they can start to take the steps necessary to perhaps one day live more independently. Everyone is different. Everyone goes at their own pace. We set no time limit. The women stay at Brigid's Place for as long as they need us.

If you want to learn more about our women's programs, please check out our program and services page. If you would like a tour on our programs specifically for women, please contact me at asilverman@shepherdsofgoodhope.com.

Another step for TESP

A lot of our Facebook friends have found our latest posting interesting. So do we.

A lot of you might not have known that Shepherds of Good Hope runs a program called TESP, transitional emergency shelter program. The best way to describe it is that it's a clinic on the first floor of our shelter building. There are 49 beds and they're set aside for homeless people who come in suffering from serious medical distress.

Quite often in the past, the clients were dropped off by Ottawa Police or Ottawa Paramedics. The challenge for the paramedics was that they weren't allowed to bring patients here directly. They could treat and transport the patient to a hospital emergency room. But they just couldn't drop the patient off and leave. They had to wait with the patient until they could make the official transfer to hospital staff. Depending on how busy the ER room was, they could end up waiting hours.

Eventually the patient would be looked at and in a lot of cases transferred to Shepherds. But starting this week, paramedics can now bring these people to Shepherds without going to the hospital first. The obvious advantages are that paramedics aren't tied up at the hospital. After they drop the patient off at Shepherds, they can get back on the road to answer more calls.

There's also a huge benefit for the client. First of all, the health care we're delivering to the client is geared to meet their specific needs. With our partners Ottawa Inner City Health, the ROH, the Ottawa Hospital, VON and others, the people brought in have immediate access to nurses, a psychiatric nurse and case workers. A lot of these people are seen multiple times. But by getting dropped off at Shepherds, they develop a rapport or a bond with the staff. The other role we play is that once the person's health is stabilized, we can offer them support services, housing options, etc.

A lot of people who have come through the program in the last two years have been successfully transitioned out of the shelter system.

Folks, the hospitals do a great job, but there's no way they can deliver this sort of care and support services from an ER.

Oh, and for those of you who might be wondering about cost, we expect this week's change to save the health care system about $2 million a year. We used very conservative costs to come up with that number. If anyone needed evidence that we do more than operate a soup kitchen and a shelter, TESP is it.