Hanif asks how CCHR triages urgent cases
Hanif asks whether CCHR has a mechanism to determine when a case is urgent and whether MOPD requests fast-tracking. Morig says MOPD flags urgent situations to Project Equal Access, and Rivera describes triage for physical harm, shelter, employment, and pregnancy cases.
Got it.
And is there a mechanism where CCHR,
determines when a constituent's case is urgent, more urgent than other cases?
And does MOPD, in its intervention or referral system,
like a tenant who can't leave their apartment because there isn't a ramp, or a worker who could lose their job because of an accommodation, not having that accommodation of a ramp.
Does MOPD ever, during its intervention, request to CCHR, this needs to be fast-tracked?
Absolutely.
If it's an urgent situation, we directly flag it to Project Equal Access.
This is rare, but I'm aware of at least one situation where it was an emergency situation and our accessibility specialist did go on site to address the situation and to investigate.
Yes, I also remember that case.
Absolutely.
We do kind of have a triage a bit.
So we're thinking about whether someone is in physical harm for other cases.
If they can't leave their home, access medical appointments, get food, we're always going to prioritize those cases.
Individuals who are in homeless shelters, we're going to prioritize supporting those cases and finding housing.
So we're constantly evaluating, even in the employment context, we're growing our pre-complaint intervention impacts right now in the employment space.
We recognize it's something that's very fact-specific, but our interventionists are being trained up in that manner as well.
So we're thinking about whether accommodation can help someone return to work quicker if they've been on leave or execute their job duties in a better way.
We're also doing those interventions even for individuals who are pregnant.
And even though we do have that as a separate protected class, we're also intervening in those matters because that's a temporary situation for that person, for that pregnant person.
And so we want to make sure that they have their benefits while they're pregnant, that they're able to continue to work just like anyone else, and that they can continue to support themselves.