STC emergency centres saw over 30 per cent spike in patrons for deep freeze

During the deep freeze from last week that continued into the weekend, some shelters and warming centres were operating overcapacity to keep people out of the cold.

Tribal Chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC), Mark Arcand, said the STC’s Emergency Wellness Centre had an average of 131 people a night, men and women, when temperatures plummeted. That’s roughly 30 more people than normal.

Read more:

• ‘Fingers were falling off’: Volunteer shares realities of deep freeze
• January broke cold weather and energy consumption records: SaskEnergy
• ‘More than a doorway’: Expanded entrance, healing centre at St. Paul’s Hospital to open Thurs.

Then, the STC’s women’s warming centre on 23rd Street East saw about 120 people per night, an increase of 30 to 40 compared to their usual numbers.

For White Buffalo Youth Lodge, Arcand said the facility welcomed around 18 kids per night over the four freezing days, compared with the average of eight to 12.

No one was turned away, even if it meant surpassing capacity limits.

“If they come through our doors, we just kept them inside and just kept them there for a couple of days… and tried to provide as much food and safety and warmth and everything as we could,” Arcand said.

The STC was also “overwhelmed” with transportation calls, according to Arcand, getting up to 130 calls a night for bringing people over to the warming sites. On an average night, they get 75 calls.

The transportation team was also taking out tuques, mittens, blankets and hand-warmers for people.

He said the STC “didn’t get any reports of major frostbites or anything else like that,” and attributes the lack of exposure-related injuries to having this transportation.

Bending the rules

Going overcapacity wasn’t the only rule the STC bent during the deep freeze, with facilities also allowing drug use during those few days.

“It kind of confuses everybody, but I think everybody needs to understand it’s necessary in that type of weather, when individuals are walking around their city with not proper clothing, not proper shoes, it’s just not right,” Arcand said.

Enforcing the no drug use policy would have meant sending people out into the cold where they could “potentially freeze,” he said. So, this way, the STC ensured they stayed safe.

But easing the rules didn’t come without challenges.

According to Arcand, in one facility there were four or five overdoses in a single night, which put a lot of pressure on staff and created panic amongst relatives and friends seeing their loved one unresponsive.

These overdoses, in addition to needing an increase of staff and food put a “pretty significant strain on our facilities,” Arcand said.

But, “we had to bite the bullet and do what was best to keep people safe,” he said.

Following the deep freeze, the STC’s facilities are back to enforcing the rules and operations have returned to normal.

Reflecting on it, Arcand said, “It’s a reward to say, ‘Hey, we helped as many people as could in a short time.’”

– with files from 650 CKOM’s Erin McNutt