The Roanoker - July/August 2021 - 35

" WE HAVEN' T BEEN
ABLE TO USE HALF OUR
BEDS, BUT WE NEVER
CLOSE OUR DOORS.
WE'RE SIMPLY SERVING
MORE PEOPLE WITH
FEWER BEDS. "
-JAMIE CLAY
fewer beds available, so the actual treatment
on a relative basis is up substantially.
" We haven't been able to use half our
beds, " says Clay. " But we never close our
doors. We're simply serving more people
with fewer beds. "
Clay says that the loss of jobs has created
" a huge change in the number of hotline
calls. "
The surge was sudden, says Clay, and there
was learning among the staff on the go.
" We made stays [at the Salvation Army
facility] longer than before " and the effort
was to set up permanent housing for the
abused seeking refuge. Normal stays are up
to 60 days, but they can be longer now. The
SA helps its clients with housing, education,
counseling, and skills as a parent. " We look
at them holistically, " she says.
Clay says that before the pandemic made
it to Western Virginia, " I was watching
it overseas, seeing what was happening
and what we could implement here. " She
says " evidence-based information " helped
create a game plan. The staff at SA has 10
professionals, half of them part-time, in three
shifts.
TheRoanoker.com
" Some shelters closed their doors and
didn't take new residents, " she says. " We
didn't. "
Disaster Preparation
The Salvation Army, says Clay, " has been
involved in disaster preparation since 1900 "
and that has served it well during the
pandemic.
Stacey Sheppard, who heads Total Action
for Progress' domestic violence response
group is no rookie at this. She spent 21 years
with the Salem Police Department and has
been at it for five with TAP. She knows the
lay of the land.
Before the pandemic, she says, " we had
two or three calls a day on the 24-hour
hotline. That's up to eight to 12 now. It's
almost more than we can keep up with. "
Abused people, she says, have found a
silver lining with the pandemic. " They are
coming out of isolation, deciding they don't
want to stay with the abusers, " she says.
" They've fled in droves. That's problematic
for a small agency that didn't anticipate it
and hadn't planned for it.
" We are looking at the pandemic as a mass
casualty incident. The violence has definitely
intensified. There's more of it and it comes in
different levels: financial, emotional, physical.
There are more assaults now than before,
more violent abuse. "
TAP has " a direct line with the Roanoke
City Police Department, " says Sheppard,
" and that partnership really helps. "
One of the significant problems Sheppard
sees is that " before the pandemic, exit
strategies [for abusers] existed that don't exist
now. People are staying with their abusers
for many different reasons, financial being
primary. Financial control, not being allowed
to work, to have a checking account or credit
cards adds a transportation barrier. It is a
form of slavery. "
TAP works with more than just the abused
person, but also with the family. It provides
food, child care, resume writing, housing
inquiries and employment, among other
things. " Some of the kids are abused, " says
Sheppard, so there is some legal advocacy.
" Safety is the No. 1 problem. "
And safety in a pandemic is the real
challenge. I
JULY/AUGUST 2021 35
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