By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
NEWPORT – In the hours before the winter shelter opens, staff and volunteers carefully secure earpieces, strap walkie-talkies to their belts and line up in the long corridor and listen to their cues, performing drills.
As a line of people outside the door forms, volunteers are busy preparing grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, the laundry room is prepped and warm beds are ready to receive Lincoln County’s cold, hungry and unhoused for the night.
“We are a lot more organized this year,” said Chantelle Estess, the county’s shelter program manager as she gathered her group of Newport volunteers and staff.
There’s been a lot more training this year than the previous two years – 46 hours of classroom work and 25 hours of live drill training, she said. Before the shelter opened for the first time this season at 6 p.m. last Tuesday, staff ran through 10 different drills.
It’s wild to think of how much the program has grown, Estess said, because they started two years ago with a small team and she was pretty much doing everything.
Although there have been starts, stops and delays, this is the third year for the Newport shelter at the corner of Hurbert and Seventh streets. But it is the first year for the county’s shelter in Lincoln City at 2125 N.E. Highway 101 after a permit issue with North Lincoln Fire & Rescue forced the facility to remain closed last year.
Between the two shelters, Lincoln County has 80 temporary, overnight beds until the shelters close for the season in April.
This year there will be some new services, Estess said. A new transportation service is meant to address the barriers unhoused people may have to getting to the shelters. People can be anywhere in Lincoln County and call 541-270-1005 between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m. to get a shelter ride.
Last season, the shelter added a volunteer physician who visited twice a week. The doctor saw 42 patients, referred two to the emergency room and made 48 referrals for additional health care, behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment.
This year a mobile dentist service will also be added, something important to Estes after an incident last year that haunts her. A man with an infected tooth lost his life after not getting dental care in time that led to more serious problems, she said.
In its first week the Newport shelter has so far had 20 people spend the night, Estess said. Although the Lincoln City shelter is open, there haven’t been many people there, Estess said, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a need. Because the shelter was closed last season, she said it’s been difficult getting the word out to people that it is open this season.
Last year, the county’s shelter system served 247 individuals and the program found permanent or transitional housing for 42. The county also said that the jail, Newport hospital and law enforcement referred 125 people to the shelter.
A ribbon cutting and open house at the Newport shelter is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
