Code Blue Concern Voiced; Gabor: OEM to Determine

CREST HAVEN – While the heat of summer was beginning to fade to fall’s chill, Johnnie Walker of Villas, chairman of the Citizens and Veterans Advisory Committee of Cape May County, approached freeholders Sept. 8 with concerns of Code Blue for the homeless in winter’s bone-chilling days.
Walker told the board of a new organization Cape Hope. He said the group is in the process of forming a coalition of organizations throughout the county, including churches, that plan to be watchdogs for homeless to ensure the homeless get the help they require.
“More importantly, one of the things we really need to sit and talk about is Code Blue,” said Walker.
He said there were some who came with him “that spent time in those woods this past winter when it was 16 degrees, 8 degrees, 10 degrees going into those woods and pulling those people out and waiting until we got a Code Blue. We can keep these people together, which makes it easy to get them into shelters, but we can’t do it until we get a Code Blue at 11 (p.m.), 12, 1 or 2 in the morning.”
Code Blue
Once a Code Blue is declared, getting shelter for such individuals is faster and easier, Walker told the board.
A Code Blue alert is declared whenever temperatures drop below the freezing point and weather conditions pose a danger to the homeless population. The Code Blue Alert allows authorities to take homeless people to local shelters or other agencies, known as warming centers. Those shelters make additional beds and space available until conditions improve and the alert is called off.
Pagliughi to Determine
Freeholder Kristine Gabor, director of Health and Human Services, told Walker that the county Office of Emergency Management will take control and be the determining party of the county’s Code Blue.
It’s not just going to be left up to somebody to decide at what point and time. That way, wherever the homeless hotline is located will be irrelevant to the issue, she added.
Thus, Martin Pagliughi, director of emergency management, will determine Code Blue. Once that is done, people can contact the Homeless Hotline and receive information on appropriate shelter, Gabor said.
Call for Communication
“We need a closer line of communication,” said Walker. “If you weren’t out there last winter, you just don’t know what we’re talking about. There was no communication,” he added.
“I was out there three times,” replied Director Gerald Thornton, “I had Mike Laffey (director of operations) with me. We absolutely went to those areas, but we didn’t find anybody.”
“They’re pretty slick and they’re pretty sharp,” said Walker. “If they don’t want you to find them you won’t,” he added.
He noted homeless advocates who worked with the homeless last winter. He said it took about three months to build up sufficient trust with the homeless to permit them to work with destitute people. Once other people went into the woods, that trust was lost.
“We’re trying to build up a trust. We identified out of 12 to 18 that were back there by Walmart five or six that were veterans. That’s what I was working for to get the veterans the proper VA assistance and the help they need,” said Walker.
He said the group was “in the process of a 501c” (verified non-profit designation). “I cannot overemphasize we need communication with the county.”
Cooperation Pledged
“We’re happy to open the line of communications with the county,” replied Gabor.  “You have the organization set up; you have the church community and other local volunteers to take on that task. Then we can work with the Office of Emergency Management.”
She noted that with all sectors working in unison, the homeless will be better enabled to get shelter when a Code Blue is declared.
When Walker said he would like to have a county representative or two attend one of the group’s future meetings, Gabor said that she and someone from the Department of Social Services would join her attending that meeting.