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May 20, 2021
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
SouthPlatteIndependent.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 11 | SPORTS: PAGE 25
VOLUME 76 | ISSUE 28
Arapahoe County program gains steam
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GOALS partnership takes two-generation approach to help struggling families BY LIAM ADAMS LADAMS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
thing after that they heard through others. Family members would ask doctors, how are you treating this? What are my loved one’s chances? And last March, the answer was, we don’t know. There were few standards of care. The drugs were experimental. It was incredibly difficult for the doctors, and there was a lot of anger at the unknowing among families.
A unique, multi-pronged initiative to support families experiencing homelessness in Arapahoe County has been building its capacity and service offerings for the past couple years, and those who oversee the program expect to be running on all cylinders later this year. Generational Opportunities to Achieve Long-Term Success (GOALS), run by both Arapahoe County Human Services and the nonprofit Family Tree, offers families a temporary living situation where community partners provide children with educational opportunities and parents with job training. Though the program officially launched in late 2019, many of those opportunities have not been available for families. Family Tree is a human-services agency focused on ending child abuse, domestic violence and homelessness. “We see ourselves emerging from this startup phase, if you will,” said Scott Shields, Family Tree’s CEO. Right now, 12 families reside at the GOALS campus in Aurora, a set of
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Hospital chaplain Gina Harvey said COVID has been a stark reminder that we never know how many days we have left.
GINA HARVEY
Hospital chaplain in the time of COVID So much unknown I’ve worked as a hospital chaplain for six years. When COVID hit in March 2020, people were just getting sick so fast. We weren’t letting families in, and chaplains became an essential connecting link. My
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job was facilitating video calls — holding up iPads to unconscious and intubated patients, so their family members could see them, and in hopes that the patients could hear their voices. The unknown and the separation made it so scary. Normally, loved ones can be with their family members in the hospital, to understand the severity of the illness and what’s happening. With COVID, people just dropped them off at the door of the hospital, and every-
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GRADUATES EYE THEIR FUTURES Area high school graduates reflect, look to years ahead
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