The Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (SACY), the service provider for a city funded warming centre, said it is facing some significant challenges running the facility.
They include staffing shortages and the ongoing stigma in the community toward the vulnerable. And officials said staff deal with overdoses almost daily.
"In December alone, the staff at the warming centre had to attend to 45 overdoses on-site, whether that was outside the doors or the symptoms presented once inside," said Julie Gorman, SACY's executive director.
"Those are staff who are trained in Naloxone and the life-saving measures required to be able to ensure that someone who has overdosed is able to continue for another day."
Gorman said the warming centre is constantly facing staffing shortages because of the pandemic. Sometimes an entire week of shifts have to be filled.
"It is this COVID issue and having people who have to stay off with their children and stay off themselves," she said.
Gorman said staff build and develop relationships based on respect, inclusion, support and empowerment. She said the stigma in the community towards the homeless and vulnerable is a big barrier.
"I think that a lot of times we paint people who are living on the street in a light that might not be as flattering," she said.
People sometimes don't make the link between what vulnerable people are dealing with and their own mental-health challenges, she said.
SACY has the contract to provide services at the warming centre until May. Right now it’s looking to hire people to keep the centre operating safely and effectively.
