Elkhart Central High School is currently being used as an isolation facility for the homeless and anyone else who needs a place to quarantine during the pandemic.
The Elkhart County Emergency Management team and Faith Mission set up the facility for those who need a place to safely isolate in early April and they plan to shut it down on June 15th.
Emergency Management Director Jennifer Tobey says they kept the location under wraps for the safety of those using the facility.
“We didn’t call it the high school because we decided to name it ‘the Annex,’" she says. "We wanted folks to know that this was a place they could go and be protected.”
Tobey says there’s a screening process for anyone who wants to stay at the center and they are provided with food, beds, and clothing.
She says using the high school as a temporary quarantine site allowed time to prepare Faith Mission to work as an isolation center moving forward after June 15th.
“While this has been happening at the gym, our Faith Mission of Elkhart has been doing some remodeling, some adding on, some construction, and some details so that it’s ready for us to go from the gym back to the Faith Mission and have the same set up.”
The high school was set up for 200 people but has only seen about 36 people total, with no more than 15 at one time. As of Tuesday, no one is currently using the facility.
Tobey says the high school gym will be thoroughly cleaned before being turned back over to the school district.
She says most everything needed for the high school isolation center was paid for by grants and donations.
Contact Annacaroline at acaruso@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @AnnacarolineC16
If you appreciate this kind of journalism on your local NPR station, please support it by donating at: https://wvpe.thankyou4caring.org/
