When COVID hit last year, the first closure excluded Fred Brown Recovery Services, with the County identifying it as an essential business. This meant Fred Brown staff needed to immediately implement emergency COVID safety and precautions measures, and it was awarded a COVID Compliance Certificate for its workplace policies and practices to protect employee health, ensure physical distancing, ensure infection control, implement communication with employees and the public, and ensure equitable access to critical services.

We could not have completed all these measures so quickly without generous support from our community. LA Harbor International Film Festival (LAHIFF) director/founder Stephanie Mardesich stepped up immediately and connected Fred Brown to Employees Community Fund of Boeing of the South Bay in Los Angeles. The fund generously stepped in to support Fred Brown protect its clients, staff and visitors. Our facilities had been using pump models of hand sanitizers as the quickest solution to providing infection control. Boeing Employees approved a $5,000 grant which allowed us to supply every home and office and clinic with touchless hand sanitizers mounted on walls. We are so grateful to Boeing Employees for their generous and timely support, as are our clients and residents and staff who have stayed healthy during this stressful year.

Our volunteer participation in the LAHIFF was put on hold because of closures, however we very much look forward to participating with the film festival and Miss Mardesich in the future.

Fred Brown is a multi-person dwelling and we experienced cases of COVID infection, as expected. In order to keep other residents safe, we reserved one of our buildings for a quarantine area and set up beds with hospital style curtains around them, and initiated safety protocols for separating infected residents from everyone else. As a result, Fred Brown was able to dramatically reduce the rate of spread, and we have been so blessed not to experience any life-threatening cases.

Additional measures included the wearing of face masks, physical distancing, telehealth services and video conferencing outpatient meetings, and, most recently, accepting the County’s invitation to offer vaccinations to all staff in the first tier.

As the rate of spread slows and more people become vaccinated, Fred Brown looks forward to a healthy, safe year for staff and residents, and wishes the same to all of our amazing supporters.

Left: Stephanie Mardeisich of LA Harbor International Film Festival. Right: Fred Brown Recovery volunteers at the last festival. For more information about LAHIFF visit http://www.laharborfilmfest.com