‘A humanitarian crisis’: Doctors ask Portland leaders to help with homeless camps near clinics
By Marilyn Deutsch
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Doctors in the Gateway neighborhood in northeast Portland are asking city leaders for help with the homeless camps lining the streets.
Both Providence and The Oregon Clinic have offices in the area on Northeast 99th Avenue, not far from the Gateway MAX Station. The doctors who work in those clinics took time from their practices Wednesday to tell Portland city commissioners via Zoom about the problems, and to ask them to make the area safe for their patients and their staff.
Many of the patients are low-income, elderly and medically vulnerable, and live on the eastside. Doctors are calling the situation in the Gateway neighborhood urgent.
“Tents blocking entire sidewalks, going into the streets with active drug injections and drug sales in clear, broad daylight – erratic behavior,” said Dr. Elizabeth O’Neill. “These do not create a safe environment, and literally prevent status to our clinic for those patients whom driving is not an option.”
Dr. O’Neill said health care is in crisis and the situation with the houseless is a humanitarian crisis. She asked commissioners to create more beds for the homeless and provide more support to help with drug addition and mental illness, and they asked that patrols be increased and the area be cleaned up. The commissioners pledged to help.
Lately, city commissioners have been hearing more and more Oregonians, from Old Town to Gateway, that the homeless camps are dangerous and keeping people from visiting areas of town, whether it’s to do business, visit a cultural institution, or simply see their family doctor.
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