The day finally arrived, with great excitement in the air for both the homeless and home owners who were eager to see the homeless gone and their property value go back up! Hordes of people poured into the closed down grocery store parking lot. There were showers set up for people to go to after they had passed through the x-ray machine. Sarah, the lady in charge of the overall works for the day, started lining people up till people got the idea. Then she checked with the drivers of the vans to make sure they were gassed up and ready to go. Next she checked the showers to make sure there were cleaning supplies in every stall. She had already checked the breakfast tent and knew everything was on track.
Sarah stood and watched the process at the x-ray machine to make sure the workers were being thorough and overheard a lady in line saying, “What do they expect to find on us? A stash of cash? Drugs?” And she laughed hysterically. Sarah, satisfied that the best job possible was being done, walked on to the showers to hear another lady who just gotten out of the shower saying, “This is the best day of my life! I got a hot shower, my hair is clean, I have on fresh, new clothes and our hygiene kits even include a hair brush and barettes!” She was smiling ear to ear and walked toward one of the vans.
After a shower, each person’s personal belongings were labeled with their names and put in an area for treatment for bugs. They would be returned to the owners on the ship after treatment. The three 18 passenger vans were loaded as quickly as possible in order to get the first set of people out to the cruise ship, Paradise Found and then return to get a second group of people. The people destined for the clinic were to wait under an easy up tent, out of the sun. They had a picnic table and ate their breakfast there. These were people who would not be able to go to the cruise ships until rehab had been successful.
Laurence waved goodbye to Brenda, who looked like a different person after her shower and change of clothes. “Good-bye Honey, do good in rehab and I will see you soon!”
Brenda managed a half smile and waved at Laurence. Her yellow eyes stood out in stark contrast to the black t shirt and black jeans she had been given to wear.
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The convoy of over 50 people started out and the people enjoyed the beautiful view of Portland as they ate their egg and sausage sandwiches and had coffee. It had been a long time since most of them had been on a drive out of the city and they drank deeply of the experience just as if it had been a glass of cold orange juice!
The other two vans filled up with people with drug problems and they took the short drive to the clinic which was about ten minutes away. Once there, they all unloaded and were each given case workers, who took down their story so they would know how to start treatment. There was a lab on site so Brenda was tested and came back positive for hepatitis, which was no shock. She was put in an isolation room and put on a special menu and drugs for hepatitis. The other 35 people were evaluated and taken to their private rooms and given their individual treatment plans, each in a well padded and sound proof room. The clinic had enough rooms for 250 patients at any given time, 40 medical staff, plus chefs, helpers, servers and dishwashers.
The vans from the clinic returned to the loading site to pick up more people and were met by Sarah, who because of the slow response of the people with drug problems, reassigned one of the two vans to also run people out to the ships, so only one was left to do the local runs. This van quickly filled up and departed for the ships, while the other three were on their way back to pick up more passengers.
Sue smiled at Karla, who was doing her interview on board the ship, Paradise Found. Karla asked her typical questions like name, age, birthdate, nearest of kin and then asked what she was qualified for. Sue answered, “I am a registered RN and have been working lately in a nursing home, but have had prior experience working in hospitals and clinics.”
Karla seemed pleased to hear about Sue’s qualifications and assigned her to a cabin and let her know she should rest until lunch. She showed her around the ship and then to her quarters. Sue went in, flopped on the bed and gave a sigh of relief! “This just might work out! It’s too early to tell, but it has promise!”
Laurence was next to finish his evaluation and was excited to tell his inquisitor that he didn’t have any specialized training but he was plenty strong and could help unload supplies coming into the ship or help lift in the kitchen or wherever he was needed. After being shown to his cabin, his inquisitor asked if he felt like helping unload supplies before lunch because they were short a couple of men who had called in sick. Laurence jumped right to it, glad to be needed!