David Araujo is the director of the Island Intervention center and the director of the emergency services program.

The Island intervention center oversees the urgent care program that is run out of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. The emergency services program handles all the emergency service cases that go through the hospital, the jail or the community. They handle assessments and figure out the safest possible placement for individuals.

As of right now, due to the stay-at-home orders, Mr. Araujo said there are currently no clinicians at the community services campus. Instead, outpatient clinicians are working remotely via Telehealth or Zoom.

Mr. Araujo said the jail also has an iPad set up with Zoom if need be.

“We are trying to either socially or physically distance ourselves from all clients, and not because we don’t want to see them, just more for safety measures and safety precautions going forward right now,” Mr. Araujo said.

Every morning Mr. Araujo meets with his staff and program directors electronically. Since the start of the Island-wide shutdown, Mr. Araujo has built a network between Island police chiefs and other individuals. He said the goal is to keep a dialogue going as everyone works through this situation.

“I think we’re in this gray area where we had solutions when it was a concrete system, but now that it’s not a concrete system, nobody has all the answers,” he said. “And I think that either collaborating or talking with other individuals or other groups that may have come up with something that you don’t have is a wonderful thing.”

~Aaron Wilson