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Austin-Travis County EMS and local organizations prepare to care for the vulnerable

An hour before the doors opened at One Texas Center, people lined up to get food and overnight shelter during the freeze.

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin-Travis County EMS and warming shelter operators are preparing for a busy few freezing days.

ATCEMS has put additional resources and staff in place to better respond during this freeze for everyone, including the unhoused. 

"We've added additional community health paramedic resources to make sure that that we're taking care of everybody," ATCEMS Cpt. Christa Stedman said.

Stedman said ATCEMS has all hands on deck. Medics are working 12-hour shifts for the next few days to better respond. She said she knows dealing with these temperatures for a long period of time without the proper gear could be deadly.

She said if people need free transportation to a warming shelter, call 311 and they will dispatch help.

Over at the One Texas Center, people experiencing homelessness had belongings in tote and were in line an hour before warming shelter registration opened.

Darrel James, who's been unhoused for more than a year, is spending his first night in a warming shelter.

"I decided to come today because last night it was real cold, raining and wet," James said.

It was too cold and wet to stay out in the elements. 

"I was here for the last cold snap when it got down to the teens and stayed with them," Mathew Yeck said. "It was a good experience, you know, warm coffee, a warm place to sleep, you know, get out of the freezing cold."

Yasmin Smith and the Austin Area Urban League team spent the day informing people about the shelters they plan to operate this week.

"You're looking at individuals that are in the middle of destitute," Smith said.

It's something they do during every freeze.

"We're going to make sure our people are sheltered," Smith said. "We're going to make sure our people are fed well and make sure our people are warm, and most of all, we're going to make sure our people are feeling that love throughout." 

Yeck is praying for everyone else's safety.

"I just pray that people stay warm tonight and, you know, stay safe because last thing I want is fatalities because of this cold," he said.

The City of Austin said its three shelters can hold 270 people. The City added that it is prepared to open three more with the same capacity if needed.

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