As Jacob Schlinker was getting into the grey van outside the Alpha House shelter with his partner on Monday, the phone was already ringing.

“DOAP team, how can we help you?” his partner answered.

The Downtown Outreach Addiction Partnership, or DOAP team, is often busy with calls. But since temperatures plummeted across Alberta over the weekend, they’ve been zipping across downtown non-stop.

Schlinker is the outreach team lead.

“Our volume of calls has increased substantially lately. I think we’re taking about 57-65 calls a day,” he said.

The DOAP team’s mandate is to respond to street-level addiction and intoxication in Calgary’s busiest areas.

The program also distributes meals, clothes and shuttles people to and from shelters, treatment centres or appointments.

But when extreme temperatures set in, and the weather becomes dangerous, the DOAP team sees a significant increase in calls for people who need to be helped out of the cold.

“Obviously the cold has been hurting them more and their health can take a hit,” Schlinker said.

“We’ll take people to medical centres, hospitals, urgent care facilities if they need.”

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