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FISHERS — The city of Fishers is taking steps to help local businesses rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. The city has handed out more than $500,000 in loans to jump start the reopening process.
The loans to more than 70 small businesses are one component of the recovery plan from Mayor Scott Fadness.
"For a small business, $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 can be a world of difference when you're trying to get the doors back open," Fadness said.
LEARN MORE |Fishers Recovery Plan
It's exactly what the mayor has done for businesses like The Lash Lounge on 116th Street, which was only open for six months before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
"I will say that was not part of our scenario planning," Allison Lewis Lodhi, co-owner of The Lash Lounge, said.
Lodhi said the city has gone above and beyond, reaching out immediately to make her aware of financial assistance, health and safety concerns. Police officers even dropped off PPE sample starter kits.
"I know owners of small businesses all across the country and there's no one who's told me they've had an experience like that with their local municipality," Lodhi said.
"Our folks are walking the streets, knocking on doors and just coming in and introducing themselves and saying how can we help — here's some information, here's some resources, here's a limited amount of supplies, here's how you can get testing," Fadness said.
Testing is a big focus for the city. They're offering free COVID-19 testing to all Fishers residents and the option for businesses to test their employees as well.
"You can't emphasize enough how important testing and assessments are going to be as we open back up," Fadness said. "Because people are going to get sick. We need to know who those people are, we need to be able to identify the situations and mitigate any kind of outbreak moving forward."
As The Lash Lounge opens next week, they've expanded their hours to allow for fewer people in the salon at a time, requiring staff and guests to wear PPE and plenty of deep cleaning.
"Want to do absolutely everything we can to make sure when we reopen it's responsible and careful and safe," Lodhi said.
In order to combat the pandemic, the city established its first Fishers Health Department.
