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How some frustrated COVID-19 vaccine hunters are trying to fix a broken system

Danny Westneat

February 17, 2021 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Retired software engineers in Washington have joined together and created a website that aggregates all available COVID vaccine appointments by using "screen scrapers." Although the site doesn't allow the visitor to book an appointment, it has routinely averaged "10,000 visits a day from anxious shot hunters."

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Volunteer paramedics patrol streets of Venezuela's capital

Scott Smith

February 16, 2021 |

Associated Press |

Photojournalism |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Venezuela, Caracas

With Venezuela's hospitals and ambulance services crippled by the country's long-running economic and social crisis, a volunteer corps of paramedics formed two years ago to respond to medical emergencies. With donated labor and medical supplies, along with charitable funding, Angels of the Road handles three or four emergency calls per day, mostly auto accidents. Research shows that speedy and expert trauma care saves lives. This service fills a gap in a country where many cannot afford private ambulance services, and public services lack the resources to be fully functioning.

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For People Who Experience Homelessness, Art Catalyzes Economic Mobility and Rewrites the Narrative

Claire Marie Porter

February 15, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Austin, Texas

Arts From The Streets gives artists living with homelessness a path to economic mobility and housing stability by offering ways to make and sell their art. An annual show can bring in $100,000 in sales, 95% of which goes to the artists. The organization provides studio space, online marketing, and other sales channels. It's one of three programs or communities serving artists who are houseless profiled in this story. The others are MudGirls, an Atlantic City ceramic arts studio, and the thriving arts culture in Los Angeles' Skid Row neighborhood, which focuses on personal growth more than income.

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PPE for the People

Kathrin Yaromich

February 10, 2021 |

Transitions Online |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Belarus

During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, volunteers across Belarus worked together to collect and deliver personal protective equipment to frontline workers, despite the Belarusian government denying the spread of the coronavirus. Using social media to organize, the volunteers "served as a kind of SWAT team able to bypass the bureaucracy to obtain the necessary equipment."

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Health care workers replaced Denver cops in handling hundreds of mental health and substance abuse cases — and officials say it saved lives

Li Cohen

February 06, 2021 |

CBS News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Denver's STAR program (Support Team Assisted Response) replaced police officers with health professionals on 748 calls for help. In incidents involving mental health, homelessness, and substance abuse, police backup was never needed, no one was arrested, and minor crises did not risk escalating into violence because of police presence. The six-month pilot project will expand to more parts of the city and more hours of the week, with an infusion of city money to supplement the private funding that got the program started.

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Denver successfully sent mental health professionals, not police, to hundreds of calls

Grace Hauck

February 06, 2021 |

USA Today |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

In its first six months, Denver's STAR program (Support Team Assistance Response) handled 748 emergency calls that in the past would have gone to the police or firefighters. Two-person teams of a medic and clinician helped people with personal crises related mainly to homelessness and mental illness. None of the calls required police involvement and no one was arrested. The city plans to spend more to expand the program, which is meant to prevent needless violence and incarceration from calls to the police that other types of first-responders can better address.

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In the first six months of health care professionals replacing police officers, no one they encountered was arrested

David Sachs

February 02, 2021 |

Denverite |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Denver's STAR (Support Team Assisted Response) program deliberately reduces potentially violent encounters between uniformed police officers and troubled people by responding to certain low-level crises with a mental health clinician and a medic. In STAR's first six months, the team offered 748 people help rather than jail, without requiring any arrests to resolve problems. With more resources, the team could have handled more than 2,500 incidents. The police chief supports the program's expansion, saying it frees his officers to handle more serious matters.

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An Oregon city's decades-old alternative to police

David Kroman Sara Bernard

January 28, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

Like many cities, Seattle is looking to Eugene, Oregon, for a model to shift resources from police to unarmed crisis responders handling 911 calls about mental health, addiction, family conflict, and other non-criminal problems. Eugene's CAHOOTS program has been doing such work for half a century, and since 1989 sending medic-and-counselor teams on calls. In 2019 it saved $8 million in police costs and $14 million for ambulances and emergency room visits. But, while taking police out of situations where they might cause more problems than they solve, it's only as good as its region's social services.

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How paramedics can help keep older Ontarians healthy — and out of the ER

Justin Chandler

January 22, 2021 |

TVO |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Canada, Hamilton, Ontario

A program started in Hamilton, Ontario that allows paramedics to "hold routine drop-in sessions at social-housing buildings, at no cost to residents" has expanded throughout the entire country after reporting notable success as a health benefit. Although funding for the program isn't certain, the program thus far has helped keep seniors and low-income residents out of emergency rooms and long-term care facilities and has further helped reduce feelings of isolation during the pandemic.

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In pursuit of self-determined development, Borneo's indigenous tribes turn to homegrown renewables

Tim Ha

January 21, 2021 |

Eco-Business |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Malaysia, Kampung Buayan, Borneo

An indigenous-led nonprofit group called Tonibung installed a micro-hydro electrical system for a village deep in Borneo’s rainforests. The project not only supplied much-needed energy for the villagers of Kampung Buayan, but it is also protecting the surrounding ecosystems, creating jobs for people, and encouraging youth to get involved. “We want to advocate for native rights to self-determination and empower indigenous groups to choose the kind of development that meets the aspirations of their people,” says the founder of the organization.

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