I woke up still sick, but my sinuses aren’t as congested. Perhaps my sickness is breaking a little bit. The antibiotics have helped lessen the pressure in my sinuses and my throat. It went to work right away, attacking the infection. I laid around in my tent until about 8:00 a.m. and then I drove to work.
The Outreach team arrived at the shelter at 9:00 a.m. We loaded up some cookies, candies, and drinks. Mitchell from the local Latin based addiction treatment center and I went to The encampment near Riverside Church. My partner Ezekiel stayed at the shelter and did the Vesta training. I did coordinated entries into the rapid rehousing system for two homeless individuals. Mitchell was able to get one homeless woman into a detox in Worcester.
At 10:30 I drove the outreach truck to the shelter and I picked up The shelter manager and we went to the food bank in Lowell where we picked up food. While we were driving I was on a virtual call with Cara from The Massachusetts association for sober houses. We discussed various ways we could help our clients obtain sober housing. And specific ways to help the Latino population in the Merrimack valley find recovery housing. Including accessing BIPOC grants. BIPOC grants are grants specific to black indigenous and people of color that live in Massachusetts.
At noon we returned back to the shelter with all the food from the food bank. Ezekiel was able to secure employment and transportation for 16 people at the shelter through one of his contacts. The homelessness police Officer stopped by and gave us trash bags to give to people on the streets, so they can clean up their messes, as well as resource sheets they revised from the ones we shared with the Police department during our meeting with the chief.
At 1:00 p.m. I drove to Peabody and I saw my nurse who prescribed me amoxicillin because she believed that on top of having a cold and allergies I had an infection in my sinuses possibly in my throat and lungs. An indicator of this was the yellow mucus and blood that was coming out when I blew my nose. She sent a subscription to CVS in the city where I work.
After the doctor I arrive back at work around 3:00 p.m. When I finished up the day by doing paperwork and organizing our supplies. I also took a quick ride down the street to get my prescription.
I left work after 5:00 p.m. and I drove to my campsite. I taken an amoxicillin as soon as I got my prescription at CVS. Then I took another one and I laid down and was asleep a little after 7:00 p.m.