On the streets, help can sometimes be just out of reach

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It's about 6 p.m. on a downtown street in Edmonton. On one side of the road is the swanky Westin Hotel. The other side features Rice Howard Way, with trendy nightspots, restaurants and outdoor patios.

#People walk on the sidewalks, stand outside the hotel or sip beers on a patio while watching a young Native woman stagger into the light traffic on the normally busy roadway.

No one moves to assist her until Bob Churchill, an office worker with the Salvation Army just happens by on his way to the bank. Churchill steers the woman from the road and sits her down on the sidewalk.

Bob Churchill tries to talk to the young Native woman he pulled from the lanes of a busy downtown street. Churchill's friend looks on.

He wants to get her off the streets. She is obviously intoxicated and could hurt herself or others. Churchill makes a call to 9-1-1.

His idea is that police or some other emergency unit could take the young woman to the safety of a shelter.

Churchill said he doesn't have any transportation and a downtown homeless shelter doesn't have a vehicle for a pick-up service.

He waits.

Now, as Churchill stands over the young woman, making sure she doesn't move away, people begin to stop.

Churchill said he can see it in their eyes. They think he's up to something.

"There was even one who said, 'I'm keeping an eye on you,'" Churchill said, amazed because just moments before, no one seemed to bat an eye toward the Nativewoman in the middle of the road.

"It's a weird world sometimes," said Churchill.

He waited with the woman for more than two hours for help to arrive. He called 9-1-1 again and was told he would have to wait.

"I couldn't spend three hours there with this lady," he said. "I couldn't try to restrain her for three hours."

In the end, Churchill took the woman away from the street and reluctantly left her in a sheltered space between two buildings away from any main roads.

Churchill called Alberta Sweetgrass the following day to vent his frustration with the system.

"I can just see this lady slipping through the cracks," he said.

Churchill's frustration isn't solely because he waited for emergency assistance for so long, he is also frustrated about the lack of funds and resources available to organizations like the one he works for and shelters who are there to help people in need.

He was there to help this woman, but the connection to further assistance, although within reach, just couldn't be made.

Lorette Garrick, the executive director at Edmonton's George Spady Centre - a shelter for people in need of assistance - said the city police often bring people to their facility, but added that they can't reach everyone.

"There are more and more people out there, it seems," she said.

The centre, which offers 24 hour a day shelter, coffee, sometimes food, shower facilities and a detox centre for the city's less fortunate, is the only place in Edmonton that will accept intoxicated people for the night. The women's shelters will not admit anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

"We are the most common place that people come to," Garrick said.

The centre operates on a shoe string budget.

Garrick would love to see a special transportation unit available to pick up people or assist the police in bringing people in, but "we don't have that kind of service, we don't have that kind of money and we don't have that kind of manpower."

She said the reality is, that it's a pretty tough world out there, and there are a lot of barriers for people. The system does break down and it is because of that break-down that some people end up on the streets. The staff at the centre do the best for people while they can.

"Our number one mandate is to keep people alive, and if we can help them make some changes, then that's great too," she said.

City police spokesman Sgt.. Rick Boulanger said the department is sensitive to the needs of the people on the streets. People have to realize, however, that police manpower can also be stretched retty thin. That can result in calls coming into the department and being placed on a priority list. He said the priority of the call is based on the information given by the person making the call.

"It is your information which is going to assist us in our priorization of this call," he said.

Without referring directly to Churchill's phone call, Boulanger said if a person is intoxicated and putting themselves or others at risk, then the priority is moved up. If the person is out of harm's way, the priority is reduced.

Boulanger said the calls for similar assistance come in on a daily basis, and officers often pick up people and take them to a shelter.

"We will take them to the Spady Centre if they are intoxicated and passive," he said.

If there are higher priority calls, however, the officers must address them first.

"We only have so many resources available to us at a certain time," he said.

Boulanger cautioned the public about doing more than making a phone call to the police if a similar situation was to occur.

"You've got to be very careful because you just don't know what people in that condition will do," he said.

A "good Samaritan" could easily be injured trying to help someone, he said.

Even offering a ride to a person who seems to be in trouble can be dangerous.

"They may have medical concerns," said Boulanger. "That person you invite into your car might be an active TB carrier who is now hacking and coughing in the confines of your car."

Despite instances where it may take some time for police assistance, Boulanger said it is best for people to be helpful, but not to intervene physically.

"Some people want to be helpful and they are good Samaritans, but the best advice for anyone who encounters this, is to call the police"

The Salvation Army, youth hostels, women's shelters and the Spady Centre can better serve the community if the community is supportive. Donations are always welcome.