Downtown East Side, Vancouver
Frontline psychosocial support and harm reduction paired with privacy first edge AI screening. NVIDIA Jetson systems ran on a closed network, using entry temperature sensing and later mask verification to reduce risk in shared space housing. Result: among the lowest infection rates within SRO's during the 2020 pandemic.
Downtown Eastside SRO: COVID-19 Response
In Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, SROs are often last-chance housing. For people working toward detox or rehab, these buildings can be tests of endurance, safety, and persistence. When the COVID pandemic hit, these spaces needed extra support.
Journey Society stepped in to provide it.
The Work
Journey Society provided frontline support focused on keeping people safe in one of the most difficult places to monitor for saftey. Our team showed up every day for check-ins, helping people make safer choices around substance use, stepping in when situations got tense, and staying connected with the staff and health workers coming through the building. None of it worked without actually knowing the residents, their names, their situations, what they were carrying.
The Tech Side
Alongside the frontline work, Journey Society designed and built a screening system for the building entrance that ran completely on-site, no outside internet connection, no outside access to resident information. Purpose-built hardware at the door checked temperatures before people moved through the building. A later version added a camera module for mask compliance, reducing the need for staff to intervene at the entrance. The system was designed for minimal friction with resident movement through the building.
Project Status
The building recorded some of the lowest infection rates among comparable sites through 2020. Outcomes reflected the combination of frontline support and the screening infrastructure operating together.
Technology
NVIDIA Jetson Edge AI Systems
AI Vision
AI Temperature Sensing
AI Presence Detection
Project Gallery
