City adds shelter beds amid cold front

Mayor Tim Keller said the city would add 100 beds “right away” to homeless shelters across Albuquerque on Tuesday after many people spent the night outside in sub-freezing temperatures.

City officials made the announcement after several days of frigid temperatures and as service providers reported an uptick in calls related to exposure or for rides to shelters.

Albuquerque Ambulance Service had seen a “moderate increase” in calls for cold exposure emergencies, said its chief, Julia Heinz, of Presbyterian Healthcare Services. Such exposure can lead to life-threatening situations such as hypothermia and cardiac arrest.

Among those most vulnerable to these emergencies are people experiencing homelessness, Heinz said, alongside infants and the elderly.

Albuquerque Community Safety estimates 112 people were picked up and transported to shelters between Saturday and Monday, during the worst of the cold front, but did not provide the total number of calls received. Saturday night, two people in one city van were working, according to ACS director Jodie Esquibel.

Despite any long wait times for transport, Keller said, it’s better than it was before.

“So we only have two vans, and we remember we had none ... three years ago,” he said in response to questions of whether two vans were enough for the call volume.

For Charity Hammond, who had to rely on the help of passersby, two vans apparently weren’t enough. Hammond had planned to sleep in frigid temperatures on Saturday night. Her bed: a patch of gravel with only a threadbare blanket to ward off the cold.

Everyday people stepped in to help.

Matt Sumpter offered her a ride when he noticed her lying on his neighbor’s porch, he said. Figuring out where to take Hammond was the first challenge. Many shelters were close to capacity Saturday night — according to the shelter bed tracker — or required referrals and would not admit Hammond, he said.

Sumpter initially drove Hammond to Gateway Center, where she was turned away.

“They couldn’t provide anything,” Sumpter said. “Beds full. So they gave us that number that I assume is the pick-up line.”

The pair were back at square one and, once again unsure of where to take Hammond, Sumpter called the emergency transportation line.

Sumpter and two neighbors called various city lines Saturday, including 311, 911 and the emergency shelter transport line (505) 418-6178, trying to secure help for Hammond. The first 311 call was made around 4 p.m. and an additional message was left on ACS’ direct line several minutes later. The emergency overnight transportation service runs from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.

A little over an hour into service, an ACS staff member told the Journal that they had more than 30 calls for emergency pickup and two responders in one ACS van to meet that need.

When asked for an estimated time of arrival later in the night, ACS staff declined to give an estimate because any estimate “just wouldn’t be accurate” due to the overwhelming number of calls.

“I didn’t mean to end up here,” Hammond said while waiting. “I’m just going through a hard time.”

Eagerly gulping down a cup of tea on the porch, Hammond recounted her aches and pains. She had been walking down the street when she got intensely dizzy and her vision went out, Hammond then laid down and couldn’t get up. She said she had no idea how cold it would get that night.

Her unpreparedness for the coming cold front was apparent in her clothing: a hoodie, thin sweatpants and a tattered blanket. Though she had shoes, at times she wasn’t wearing them.

ACS arrived at Sumpter’s house five hours after an initial call was made by a neighbor. Hammond left Sumpter’s house and was taken to Gateway West just before 10 p.m., Sumpter said.

Hammond has since checked out of Gateway West, according to staff, and her whereabouts are unknown.

“That should never happen,” Keller said in response to Hammond’s story. “... I find it hard to believe that we’re ever shutting the door on a night like last night to anyone who’s standing outside the door.”