A City, a Pandemic, and a Hotel: How the Chicago Department of Public Health and Lawndale Christian Health Center Mobilized to Protect People Experiencing Homelessness During the COVID-19 Crisis

CME Accredited

Wayne Detmer, MD

In his 2010 seminal book "To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World", sociologist James Davison Hunter suggests a new paradigm for Christian cultural engagement. Hunter encourages Christians to become a “faithful presence” in our communities. This workshop will tell the story of how a partnership between LCHC, the Chicago Department of Public Health, private service providers, homeless shelters, and academic medical centers served to protect 259 of the most vulnerable people living in shelters by housing them in a boutique hotel in the heart of Chicago. It will present example of the corporate practice of “faithful presence” as a model for cultural engagement in a pluralistic society.