Germs And Disease In Shelters

896 Words2 Pages

What could possibly be worse than taking the risk of freezing to death outside at night, yet some of the homeless still chose to instead of going to shelters. Obviously, the current shelter system is not working to bring the homeless in from the streets. This is why we need to create a safe and sanitary environment in shelters. We also need to work with the homeless to ensure transitional housing includes the resources and services they want and need to encourage them to actively use shelters. In this essay we will discuss the spreading of the germs and diseases in shelters. Next we will talk about the design and services in shelters, and finally violence in shelters. This essay will prove that homeless people deserve sanitary, safe and useful …show more content…

This is one reason homeless people refuse their help. Studies have shown that HIV, Hepatitis B and C, as well as Tuberculosis are all very prevalent in the homeless population. Other common issues are scabies, lice, influenza and pneumonia. All of these conditions are highly communicable and many of them can be life threatening. In an NPR interview David Pirtle says, one of the reasons he doesn't go into homeless shelters is because, “there's bedbugs and body lice.” Some of the simplest ways to prevent the spreading of these diseases/infections is through improving the living conditions within the shelters. "They don't clean the mats....they don't clean them at all" says an occupant named Gregory in an interview with OC weekly. As we can tell by that quote proper bed care, and disinfecting surfaces is something that shelters need to improve on. Other ways to improve hygiene in the shelter is to provide supplies such as a toothbrush. They should also encourage people to wash/bathe when they come. However, it's clear that hygiene isn't going to be enough to prevent all of these diseases. Shelters should also screen and treat TB, offer vaccinations, provide needle exchange programs and education about theses …show more content…

One improvement to consider would be to make smaller shelters with fewer people in them. Many of the homeless report that the shelters now are too large, crowded or don't have enough privacy, as seen in this quote by Robert Johnson on businessinsider.com “Jam-packed room with more than 100 other men”. We also need to think about a variety of shelters such as single men, single women, family and mixed gender so that families and couples don't have to be seperated. With this, there should also be a choice for the LGBTQ community to pick the shelter kinds that they identify with,“1 in 3 transgender youth will be rejected by a shelter on account of their gender identity/expression” says homeless hub.ca. Finally many of the homeless have animals for company and protection, if the animal is not accepted at the shelter many will choose to stay outdoors. As we can see we need a lot of work on providing varieties of shelter

More about Germs And Disease In Shelters

Open Document