As the numbers of COVID+ cases continued to increase and Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program learned in real time how the virus progressed and how to treat it, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was converted into a 1,000 bed COVID field hospital called Boston HOPE. BHCHP was asked to set up and manage 500 beds for our patients experiencing homelessness. Our patients showed resiliency and courage in the midst of this stressful time, spending 24/7 in a cavernous hall with strangers, while caregivers dressed in full PPE did their best to manage their care. Our exceptional clinicians went above and beyond while facing this challenge.

Having seen the overcrowded hospital conditions in NYC and knowing that our COVID+ patients had no where else to go, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program knew we needed to care for our patients and help keep hospital beds free for the most serious COVID patients. We quickly, but thoughtfully and with precision, reconfigured an entire 52-bed floor of our respite program into a state of the art infection-controlled COVID ward, safe for our patients and our staff. We were soon at 100% capacity, while still continuing our essential clinic operations and running our non-COVID respite ward.

At the start of the pandemic, we believed our patients would be among the most susceptible, due to their crowded living conditions and chronic illnesses. Our patients knew they could turn to us for guidance, advocacy and compassion, even as the world was isolating in their own homes. Our staff showed bravery and innovation constructing and managing testing at our shelter partners and isolation tents and caring for patients in the best space for their recovery. We learned that a public health outbreak of this scale disproportionately affects the poor and marginalized and we re-committed ourselves to each other, unified in our mission to bring quality health care to every one of us.