When the Florida Department of Health in Indian River County sent out word that they would take mobile COVID-19 vaccination teams to locations such as businesses, churches and nonprofit organizations, Tony Zorbaugh, executive director of the Source, quickly filled out a request form.
“We started in August, and we’ve probably done about 15 of these,” said Stacy Brock, DOH-Indian River public information officer. “We’ve been going wherever anybody needs us and it’s been successful.”
The Source, a Christian-based ministry, addresses the needs of the homeless and the poor, who are among the most vulnerable members of our community.
“People need to realize that our population at the Source is one of the most heavily infected populations because of their movements. They go to the county jail, they go to the hospital, and they come right back to the Source. And those are the two most highly infectious places that you can go to,” said Zorbaugh.
They hoped to entice clients and the 30 percent of staff who remain unvaccinated to get the jab so that they might resume full operations. Without cars, many of their clients were unable to access vaccination sites, so this brought it to their doorstep.
While slightly more than a dozen did get the shot during the 90-minute clinic, others continue to believe false claims from anti-vaxxers. He referenced a group of people sitting on the porch waiting for meals.
“I said to one woman, ‘Hey we have a clinic. Would you like to come in and get vaccinated?’ She said, ‘No, I don’t want to get sick.’ You can’t make this stuff up,” said Zorbaugh.
A post he put on Facebook a couple of weeks ago was misconstrued by some people who thought the Source was closing down for good. In fact, like many other COVID closures, it was only temporary; in this case 48 hours.
“In order to be objective you sometimes have to step back, shut everything off, and take a look to see what I can do, rather then what I can’t do,” said Beverly Paris, publicist for the Source.
“And that’s exactly what he did. And it only took him a couple of days to know what he could bring back.”
“It’s given us a chance to say what we need and what we don’t need and refine it,” said Zorbaugh in agreement.
Administration staff, who had been moved to an off-site location over the summer to enable safe distancing, returned to work after the first day. Their food trucks and catering operations were soon reinstated as well and have been kept very busy.
Although the main facility on Commerce Avenue is still not offering indoor dining, programs or gatherings, other services have been reintroduced.
“We’re gradually opening up for a shower and for laundry services, but everything has to be disinfected and cleaned after every single use,” said Zorbaugh.
Additionally, whenever staffers are exposed to someone with COVID, they are automatically quarantined for 10 days, which creates a domino effect.
To encourage vaccinations, he reminds staffers that if they are unable to work, they’re going to have trouble paying their bills, including rent.
“But, unfortunately, there’s still a few people that are choosing not to get it,” he said. “Our maintenance guy kept refusing to get a vaccine; refusing, refusing, refusing. And then he was quarantined twice because he had exposure.”
Zorbaugh said the man was in his mid-60s, so he explained to him that the small mark on his arm showed that he had received the smallpox vaccination as a child.
“I said, ‘Well your kids don’t have that, and I don’t have that because it worked. There’s generations of people that don’t have to do it anymore,’” said Zorbaugh, referencing the routine smallpox vaccinations that ended once the disease was considered eradicated in America. “I said, ‘It’s the same thing as what we’re doing now.’”
The man got the vaccine.
Absent a vaccine mandate, they test unvaccinated staff on a weekly basis and do require masks for everyone on the property.
“We are doing everything that we possibly can, in our power, to help those that are in need in our community,” said Zorbaugh. “We want to continue to operate at a high level, but because the Delta variant is so potent in our community, there’s not much that I can really do.”
Zorbaugh pointed out that he has only been executive director for a little more than four years, half of which has been during the pandemic.
Despite numerous obstacles, he defied the odds, launching two food trucks, with a third anticipated in July 2022. And this past March saw the launch of their Dignity Bus, which features 20 individual sleeping pods.
They are currently awaiting city approval for a property they hope to close on, a 4,000-square-foot building where they plan to install a commercial kitchen. Doing so will enable them to expand their culinary training and catering operations, thereby increasing their self-sustainability. The new building will be in addition to the current facility on Commerce Avenue.
The Source had previously assisted during disasters elsewhere, but Zorbaugh said he had to decline a very lucrative offer to assist with recovery efforts in New Orleans.
“I can’t do it; I wish I could. But this variant is just insane,” said Zorbaugh. “We were doing this at a high level for 15 months. It really just smacked me recently, because kids are going back to school and people let their guard down. So we spend money on tests; we do what we can. And when multiple people go down, I’ve got to reposition and change and move and do the best that I can.”
For more information, visit iamthesource.org. To request an application for a visit by the mobile vaccine clinic, call the DOH-Indian River at 772-794-7479.
Photos by Kaila Jones
