ARLINGTON – Manager Peggy Ray and staff at the Arlington Community Resource Center have seen the moment all too often when an addict walks in the door ready to kick their drug habit.
“They come in and say, ‘I’m ready to get clean,” Ray said. “They mean it because they haven’t gone through the violent ‘drug sick’ yet. If we aren’t able to get them help in that point in time, they’ll leave, and it will be two months before we see them again. They’re too embarrassed to come back because they’ve started using again.”
The City Council Monday passed a resolution adopting policies for a Social Services Fund developed to address the gap in time between when an individual is ready for treatment and the few days it can take to get them into a program.
In 2016, the Cascade Valley Health Foundation gifted $10,000 to the city to start such a social services fund. The funds would be accessible for Arlington police and firefighters to provide immediate basic needs to individuals who are addicted to opiates.
“The real meat in this policy is how the money is used,” assistant city administrator Heather Logan said, adding that there are limits on how it can be spent.
Specific uses for the funds are limited to:
* Ground or air transportation to a rehabilitation facility
* Hotel stay for the individual awaiting housing, detox or other services
* Meals or groceries
* Laundromat service for clothes cleaning
* Hygiene needs such as a haircut and shower
* Providing incidentals while in transition to treatment such as shoes, clothes, bedding and toiletries.
In establishing the fund, the council also needed to designate who is in charge of the cards, who is allowed to use them, documentation for purchases, and how purchases and client information will be tracked and recorded.
The policy is modeled somewhat after a fund under Everett’s Safe Street program that, rather than police or firefighters, depends on a social worker that can take care of immediate needs.
Arlington Mayor Barb Tolbert said, “We’re trying to use best practices we’ve seen work in other communities.”
The city currently works through organizations such as the resource center as a means to connect individuals with programs and services related to addiction, homelessness and mental illness.Ray said the resource center does all it can to help them all.They arrange for Salvation Army vouchers, tap emergency food and clothing on site, and sign up individuals on as many housing lists as possible.
“A hotel stay is like winning the lottery right now,” Ray said.
In general, she said, “If we don’t have it, trust me, we will find it. We will find a way to help.”
Logan said city administration involvement should be minimal once the program is operating.
Police Chief Jonathan Ventura said most of the clients in the community are already well-known to police.
Logan said the hope is that this will become a revolving fund beyond the gift provided by the hospital foundation.She said some businesses are ready to put money in the fund and are just waiting for the go ahead.
