Inside the Shoreline Assessment and Recovery Center

The side are aluminum, the roof is fabric - which was undamaged in the
hail storm - and the interior walls are insulated fabric

By Cynthia Sheridan
Photos by Steven H. Robinson except as noted

County Executive Dow Constantine held a media preview of the newly constructed Shoreline Assessment and Recovery Center on Tuesday, April 1, giving a huge shout-out to the City of Shoreline for providing the soccer field site at 1st Ave NE and 190th St.

King County is grateful to the city and people of Shoreline for their tremendous support.

King county executive Dow Constantine speaks to reporters.
He started the session by asking the media to distance themselves.

Constantine also praised Kaiser Permanente, which has donated 100 nurses who volunteered to help staff the recovery center. And gratefully he thanked the Conservation Corp for completing the building construction with lightning speed.

The center will address three issues: 

1. the need for social distancing, 
2. overload in King County hospital facilities and 
3. a place that can accommodate surges, or large groups that need assistance.

Tile floors, glass doors, and insulating fabric on the walls
of the patient care spaces. Beds are set up and the foot lockers
are for the personal possessions of each patient.

The Assessment tent will evaluate medical conditions and whether patients can return to the community or should move to hospital care. The center of the tent will be used for this evaluation, which includes opiate use and mental health issues.

People clearly needing hospitalization will not come to Shoreline but will go directly to hospitals.

Exam rooms in the middle of the tent will allow for some
privacy for the initial assessment

The Recovery tent will meet the needs of those needing quarantine and/or medical assistance, including behavioral health and opioid treatment. 

Initially both operations will be in one tent; as the need arises, there will be two separate tents.

Toilets and showers are in trailers outside the tents and
will be maintained by a private contractor.

The toilets and showers are in trailers outside the tents and will be maintained, cleaned, and sanitized by the vendors. 

Exterior security will be maintained by contracted law enforcement and there will be security inside the tents as well. 

Coming to the center is voluntary; leaving is by decision of health staff. 

King County Health and Human Services will oversee these important issues and will provide the doctors.

Each room has the bare minimum needed

Constantine also thanked Alaska Airlines for donating digital media players to be used for patients’ enjoyment; Amazon, for helping with procurements, and Woodinville Distillery which has pitched in with their recent production of hand sanitizers.

This is not a walk-up facility. Placement will come from E.R.s, shelters, and community services. 

There will be no ‘rounding up’ of people as some homeless advocates feared. The purpose of the center is to isolate and assist in the recovery of people needing help.

There were Porta Potties and handwashing stations on site
for a few days - but they were for the construction workers.

Local social service providers will maintain contact with their clients when they are brought to the recovery center and will be involved with any ongoing care for individuals.

Food will be provided by FareStart, an organization that hires and trains homeless people for food service jobs. They will deliver the food in individual sacks and leave it between the two tents for the staff to pick up. FareStart is serving all the county facilities.

FareStart says: "We're working closely with government, community and foodservice partners to scale up to more than 15,000 emergency meals a day to support shelters, quarantine and isolation centers, and other communities in need during the COVID-19 crisis. And we are doing all this while maintaining the highest measures of safety, cleanliness and social distancing in our kitchens."

Behavioral issues will be assessed and ongoing behavioral counseling and stabilization along with medication will be provided by the patient’s current service provider and if no known provider is involved referrals will be made.

Microsoft is working to develop software to track the COVID-19 epidemic and to provide better data concerning hospital usage.

King County will continue to develop additional sites throughout the county to provide more localized assistance to individuals being assessed allowing them to stay in their local area without the need for extensive transportation to receive help.

North Seattle units on N 128th
Photo courtesy King County

The North Seattle site on N 128th is limited but the units are small apartments with private bathrooms, dorm sized refrigerators and microwaves.

The interior of the units in North Seattle and Interbay
Photo courtesy King County

They are continuing to work with local municipalities to develop more options for a potential surge in cases that overwhelms local hospitals.

Interbay site when the pods were being brought in.
Photo courtesy King County

There is a site at Interbay with apartment pods like the ones in North Seattle.

Metro Transit will provide, run, and sanitize buses to transport people to and from the facility. They can transport up to 20 people at a time. They will be particularly important if there is an outbreak in a facility such as a nursing home where a large number of people will need to be assessed at the same time.