PRESS RELEASE:
This Skid Row theater group is using art to address the healthcare crisis for the unhoused, even in the face of funding cuts. Los Angeles Poverty Department combines theater and public discussions to push for a recuperative care model proven successful during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, government cuts threaten to curtail the project.
2025/06/Press-Release-LAPD-Tour funding-cuts.pdf
2025 THE COVID HOTEL WELCOMES YOU TO THE FUTURE Performance & Panel Conversations
Moderated by Sara Fetherolf, LAPD’s Public Programs and Engagement Specialist.
- September 12, 10:45am at HHCLA’s Harm Reduction Conference “Breathing Life Into Community” exploring pressing issues facing homelessness in LA County. This conference will emphasize harm reduction strategies being implemented throughout the LA County including: trauma informed care practices, housing first models, overdose prevention strategies, and more.
- June 7, 8:20pm under the BENDIX sign during This Home, Forever, a two-day performance series sparking thoughts about the potential erosion of Los Angeles’s diverse and vibrant urban ecosystem against the backdrop of gentrification, organized by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) and curated by Nahui Garcia, at the Heidi Duckler Studio.
- June 4, 3:30pm at the Van Nuys Library.
Panel discussion with Alisa Osunfunke Orduna who will share her experience of convening Skid Row residents to imagine and realize the ReFresh Spot –a 24 hour hygiene center- while Mayor Garcetti’s liaison to Skid Row, and her equivalent role as consultant to the County Department of Health Services in leading community envisioning of the Skid Row Action Plan and realizing the Skid Row Care Campus, in conversation with Carla Orendorff, with Aetna Street Solidarity and the San Fernando Valley Homeless Union, Giselle “Gelly” Harrell, organizer with the San Fernando Valley Homeless Union and Rebecca Chavez, with Aetna Street Solidarity, who are working with their community to realize similar amenities to Van Nuys. - May 28, 1pm at the Lancaster Library.
Panel discussion with Christopher Boyd, Executive Director, VelNonArt Transformative Health, Melissa Ivory, community advocate, Michael Janssen, community advocate and James Evans, community advocate. - May 14, 2pm at Safe Landing – Exodus Recovery, Inc., – performance for residents only.
Panel discussion with Jerry P. Abraham, MD MPH CMQ, President, Los Angeles County Medical Association LACMA, Director & Chief Vaccinologist, CDU-KEDREN Mobile Street Medicine , DeShawn Green, Case Manager, Exodus Recovery Safe Landing, Christian Montez De Oca, Team Lead, Exodus Recovery Safe Landing and Patricia Motus, Occupational Therapist, Exodus Recovery Safe Landing - May 7, 5:30pm at Grand Vision Foundation | The Grand Annex
Panel discussion with Jetzel Chavez, Domestic Violence Regional Coordinator (SPA 8), Rainbow Services, Dr. Caleb Lusk, MD, MPH, FASAM, Chief Medical Officer, Harbor Community Health Centers, Amber Sheikh, LAHSA Commissioner and community advocate, Valancy Valles, Community Crisis Response Crisis Intervention Specialist, Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services. - Thursday, April 24, 7pm at Allen Studio, Rm 130 Seaver Theater, Pomona College.
Panel discussion “Reimagining the Future of Healthcare For Our Homeless Community-5” with Femi Akinnagbe, MD, MSc, RYT, Physician at Harbor Community Health Center. (Rachel Forester, Housing Claremont board, League of Women Voters Mt Baldy area director of programming was unable to attend.) - Wednesday, March 19 at AMITY – performance for residents only.
Panel discussion, “Reimagining the Future of Healthcare For Our Homeless Community-4” with Ronnie Walker, Amity Alumni, where he works as a JIR ADVOCATE; Sandra Kedren, Public Health, Integration & Street Medicine, CDU-KEDREN; and John Malpede, founder of Los Angeles Poverty Department. - Sunday, February 16, FREE performance at Highways Performance Space.
Panel discussion, “Reimagining the Future of Healthcare For Our Homeless Community-3” with Becky Dennison, Executive at Venice Community Housing Advocating for Innovative Supportive Housing and Dr. Ryan J. Smith, President and CEO at St. Joseph Center and Anthony Ruffin, Staff Analyst -Harm Reduction division, DHS Los Angeles county Department of Health Services. - February 4, at Hope on Hyde Park, – performance for residents only.
Panel discussion, “Reimagining the Future of Healthcare For Our Homeless Community-2” with Denise Davidosky, Intensive Services Manager, Occupational Therapy Training Program, Special Service for Groups at Hope on Hyde Park; Mary MacAdam, MPA, Homeless Services Program Manager at Clínica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero and Gabriella Sehwani, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist SSG/OTT - January 25, 2025, at FREE performance at CASA 01010, in Boyle Heights
Following the performance, a panel discussion, “Reimagining Healthcare For Our Homeless Community -1” will feature Molly Rysman,from LA County Department of Health Services (DHS) Housing for Health; Dr. Karla Gonzalez, MD, MPH, Medical Director of Urgent Care, LA Medical Center and Medical Director, The Wellness Center; Lorenzo Antonio Gonzalez, MD MPL, Mobile Clinic Program, DHS; and Jennifer Sudarsky, M.D., former Medical Director of LA County’s Quarantine & Isolation (aka. “Covid Hotel”) sites. - December 14, 2024 at the Skid Row History Museum & Archive.
PERFORMANCE BY LOS ANGELES POVERTY DEPARTMENT
with Stephanie Bell, Henriëtte Brouwers, Iron Donato, Tom Grode, Jaiye Kamson, John Malpede, Leyla Martinez, Lorraine Morland, ToneTone Taylor and Richard Volis.
The performance imagines and presents the case for the creation of Respite Medical sites for houseless people in every neighborhood of LA County. It builds on the wisdom, compassion and practices invented by frontline health workers at the LA County Department of Health Services Quarantine and Isolation Medical Sites that existed during the pandemic (2020-2022).
Welcome to the Covid Hotel (click here to connect to the project page)
Unveiling unexpected lessons about healthcare for the homeless that emerged from LA County-run quarantine sites during the Covid crisis.
Exhibition: March 9 – December 14, 2024 / we held a series of panel discussions during the exhibition:
March 27: Adversity Generates Innovation highlighting the experiences of frontline workers involved with LA County’s Quarantine and Isolation (QI) sites and in Skid Row during the COVID-19 pandemic.
April 11: Housing is Healthcare (Part 1) exploring lessons learned about how to expeditiously place and maintain homeless individuals successfully in housing.
May 22: Housing is Healthcare (Part 2) exploring new initiatives like medical Triage sites can be realized throughout the county.
October 16: COVID CONFIDENTIAL The Nuts and Bolts of Operating a QI Site and the Impact of It
October 22: GOING FORWARD Best practices from the Covid Medical Shelters being implemented now.
