Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron visited the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky, the region’s only low-barrier, immediate-entry shelter, this week.
Established as a men’s winter cold shelter 15 years ago, ESNKY’s new facility in Covington offers a wide variety of essential services, including 68 shelter beds year-round, a men’s Work Program, Daytime Navigation and Engagement Center, self-service Shower and Laundry, and an onsite healthcare clinic. The Attorney General and members of his team toured the new facility, which opened one year ago this month after a successful capital campaign.
“We are incredibly grateful for the staff that serve the homeless in NKY,” said Attorney General Cameron.
Cameron toured the Covington facility with Assistant Deputy Attorney General Amy Burke and Bryan Hubbard, Chair and Executive Director of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, as well as Special Counsel to the Attorney General’s Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control.
“We are honored to host Attorney General Cameron and members of the Attorney General’s office in our new home,” said Kim M. Webb, Executive Director of ESNKY. “We can talk with our elected officials and government representatives all day, but it doesn’t compare to being able to see our life-changing, life-saving work in action.”
“When people visit the shelter and see the care and dignity our guests are treated with, it helps them to understand exactly what we do and why it’s so important,” Webb said. “People are often surprised to know that there is a statute within our state constitution requiring an animal shelter in every Kentucky county, but there is no such requirement for people. We want to change the way our state treats our most vulnerable, and conversations with our elected officials is vital to this work.”
The Attorney General’s visit comes as the Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission prepares to distribute the Commonwealth’s portion of over $842 million in settlement funds with opioid companies, which were reached by Attorney General Cameron’s office. The Commission, which was established by the General Assembly’s passage of House Bill 427, has held ten town halls, including one in Covington last October.
“ESNKY is a low-barrier shelter, meaning we don’t turn people away for many of the reasons other shelters might,” said Webb.
“That’s important because many times, we are the only thing between a person and the street. We treat every guest with dignity, and that means serving them where they are in that moment. Many of our guests struggle with addiction, including opioid addiction. We do not allow guests to use while in shelter, but we welcome guests who have nowhere else to go, sober or not.”
ESNKY Board Chair Steven Doan helped introduce Attorney General Cameron to the organization’s work.
“Homelessness and the opioid epidemic are issues that impact all of our communities” said Doan. “I appreciate Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s dedication to community solutions that will help us solve this crisis.”
Attorney General Cameron also visited the onsite healthcare clinic, an urgent-care-style model of community health, operated by a groundbreaking partnership between the shelter, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, and the University of Kentucky. Medical students are learning bedside manners and medical decision making while providing high-quality care to their homeless neighbors.
“This is ground zero for wet shelter in a harm reduction model,” said Webb. “This clinic is often the first time someone struggling with addiction can receive free care, with no expectation of permanent sobriety, just help where and when they need it.”
Helping anyone in need is a theme of the shelter’s work, one of the values that Webb was most excited to discuss with the Attorney General.
“Low barrier shelter is needed now more than ever,” Webb says, “and we’re proud to be part of the solution.”
Donations to support Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky can be made at bit.ly/WinterShelter22-23. To learn more about ESNKY and its mission, visit emergencyshelternky.org or call (859) 572-1623.
