The Big Apple is in such desperate need of help juggling the ongoing migrant crisis that it is begging its Department of Health employees to volunteer to pick up some of the slack, The Post has learned.
In a letter sent out Friday, the Health Department asked its staffers to step up and volunteer at various temporary emergency sites as city-run migrant shelters are being pushed to the “breaking point” by the influx of asylum seekers.
“With a recent increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving daily, our city’s shelter system has been pushed to a breaking point and the city will be creating emergency temporary sites to provide short term assistance,” said the letter, obtained by The Post.
“We are seeking volunteers to work at emergency respite sites overseen by NYC Emergency Management.”
Employees seeking to volunteer during their regularly scheduled working hours won’t be paid for their time, a source said.
The letter informed those staffers that they would need a supervisor to confirm they could be absent from “traditional work duties” in order to put their hand up.
Meanwhile, workers offering to pick up the duties during their off hours could be eligible for overtime, according to the letter.
The city Health Department asked employees to volunteer to help staff various temporary emergency sites across the city as the Big Apple deals with an influx of migrants. Manhattan’s Stewart Hotel has been housing migrants for months. Paul MartinkaStill, in both scenarios, managers would need to first sign off on the requests to volunteer.
The city is trying to provide 24-hour support at the sites, with Health Department volunteers being asked to help staff either an 8 a.m.-to-8 p.m. or an 8 p.m.-to-8 a.m. shift.
“Buses are arriving almost daily from Texas and we need staff on the ground at respite sites to assist with basic logistics and triaging services with asylum seekers,” the letter says.
Among the duties that staffers are being asked to assist with are greeting asylum seekers when they arrive at shelter sites, and directing them to open cot space or their next destination, according to the letter.
In some instances, the health employees may need to also help coordinate medical needs.
About 90 migrants stepped off buses at Port Authority from Texas on Monday morning. Robert Mecea“Fluency in speaking Spanish is a plus, but all employees are welcome to support this effort,” the letter reads.
It wasn’t immediately clear what city-run sites the volunteers would be staffing.
The call for help comes as two buses carrying a total of about 90 migrants pulled into Manhattan’s Port Authority terminal early Monday from Brownsville, Texas.
The latest arrivals add to the more than 65,000 migrants who have flooded into the Big Apple over the past year. As of May 10, more than 39,400 asylum seekers were being sheltered in one of the city’s 130 emergency shelters or eight relief centers, the city said.
