[Incident report] and discussion about safety for our unhoused neighbours

Hi all,

This morning around 10am I found an individual (likely homeless based on the condition of his clothing and our subsequent conversation) unconscious on the lawn next to VHS. He said his name is Mark. I asked Mark if he was ok and he replied yes, coherently, indicating that he was conscious and responsive, so I offered him some water (which he declined) and left him alone after asking if he can either remain upright and awake or move along.

About 2 hours later @adheesh arrived and noticed that Mark was unconscious in the same spot, so we queried him once more, and he responded coherently. I didn’t notice it the first time but this time I saw he had a wound on his ankle with some dressings that were at least a few days old, crusted with dried blood, and flies were buzzing around his ankle, so I brought him a cup of water and some fresh dressings for his wounds from VHS’ first aid kit, which he thanked us for. I offered to help him re-dress his wounds but he declined saying that he could re-bandage himself, so I left those materials with him. When I went to check on him about 10 minutes later he was not there, so he moved on somewhere.

I checked to see if any of the following items I took from VHS’ first aid kit need to be restocked, but we have plenty of them: antimicrobial wipes, sterile dressings, gauze wrap, elastic bandages.

Fortunately we did not need the naloxone kit today, but just a reminder that the space has one (and also a couple of pulse oximeters hanging with the naloxone kits), however if you’re not comfortable dealing with this kind of situation, please do not hesitate to call 911.

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Good on you for helping out!

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Good on you John. My brother also works in a place where homeless sometimes congregate. They all keep a list of places for: free showers, free food, addiction treatment, getting a social worker ect.

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Thanks, yeah Mark was saying that what would be most helpful to him in that moment is somewhere he can have a shower. Hope he finds one.

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This place is pretty great. Laundry, showers, a cafe, and lots of other programs.

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There is a lot of literature about this in the entrance area to the Britannia Library. I will gather some info, scan it and post it on this page or slack.

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Thank you!