Elms College offers housing for first responders

May 12, 2020 | Danielle Eaton
DanielleE@thereminder.com

CHICOPEE - Elms College is doing their part to help first responders during the pandemic by offering them a place to self-isolate, should they need it. 

The college’s director of public safety, Pablo Madera told Reminder Publishing Elms College was first approached by the city of Chicopee prior to the peak of the coronavirus. He said both the fire and police departments were working to put a plan in places, should they be exposed to the virus while at work. 

“The city of Chicopee, fire department and police department, approached us trying to be proactive and put pre-planning in case they needed to have a facility to take respite in case they had been exposed [to COVID-19] while on duty,” he said. 

Madera said after potentially being exposed, having to make “a choice between going home and not going home until you’re tested,” most workers would choose to take the precaution of staying away for a night or two. 

After the plan was presented to the college administration, it was approved by Elms’ president Harry Dumay and preparations were made to accomodate emergency workers. Madera said fortunately, one of the residence halls, Devine Hall, was perfect for the task. 

“One of our residences was the perfect fit for that, and [was] put together working with the Chicopee police and fire,” he said. 

Once some essententals were put together, the residence hall was ready for use.  Madera said while they had not had anyone need to use the residence hall at the time of press, it was able to house “approximately 20 single resident individuals.” He added that there would be “no doubling up” in rooms, meaning that only one person would be allowed to stay in a room at a time. 

Madera said should the rooms need to be used, there is a plan in place to ensure that the rooms would be properly sanitized and cleaned for future use. “Currently, all the rooms have been cleaned by facilities and prepped for use. Together we’ve put together a plan for basically decontaminating a room once it’s been used. Once the room is used, the city comes in and takes responsibility for that,” he said. Madera added that when the residence hall is no longer needed to provide potential housing for emergency workers, the residence hall will be cleaned once again for a final time.

The single rooms also provide those using them privacy, so as long as they follow social distancing and other CDC guidelines Madera said they are free to use them as needed. “The residences are single room units, are private, so they would be deciding how they treat that. Some people still may be working, they’re required to follow all guidelines and adhere to distancing,” Madera said. He also emphasized that the hall “is not an isolation unit” but instead “ place to go and stay if you need a night” and “more of a respite.”

Madera said the respite works well in conjunction with the recovery center set up by Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi. “It works out really well because of the facility that was established by Cocchi,” he said. “They come here to wait for testing, if the results come back negative they go home and if it comes back positive they isolate there. Should you become ill, you can be transported to a medical facility and have the ability to recover.”

Madera said providing the temporary house was Elms “way of helping out” and providing “peace of mind for families and their coworkers.”

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