An unidentified homeless man who was staying at the emergency warming center in First United Methodist Family Life Center became ill and died Sunday night at a local hospital following a suspected asthma attack, city and center officials said Monday.
"We lost one of our homeless individuals last night at the warming center," City Manager Bill Burrough said in a text message Monday. "The gentleman had an asthma attack and paramedics were able to work on him and established a light pulse, unfortunately, he passed at the hospital."
Warming center coordinator Sally Carder said she thought the man to be in his late 40s. His name will not be released while the city attempts to locate his next-of-kin.
"When he had the asthma attack we called 911, and LifeNet came and took him out and gave him some breathing treatments, tried to get him to go to the hospital and he refused to go the first time, and came back in. After a little while he had another attack, and so of course we called LifeNet and they came out and got here very quickly," Carder said.
"I was out here with him," she said, "and I say 'out here,' but we brought him to the foyer where it was cooler and there weren't people -- and he just could not get his breath. We laid him on the floor and we opened the door where he could get as much air as possible, and LifeNet was here, and they were able to work with him and got a faint pulse and took him to the hospital, to CHI, and he didn't make it."
Carder said the man had been at the shelter since it opened Thursday.
"He seemed like a nice guy," Carder said. "We were not as close to this gentleman, as we are to some of our folks. We had not served him as much, and he, of course, was here because of the cold, and seemed to get along with the others well."
Bill Sardin, a pastor at First United Methodist, came out to the center after the man's death to provide counsel to those staying in the center.
"Our homeless neighbors have a very difficult lifestyle, and most of them have health issues, and this is just one that did not end well," Carder said. "The one thing that I take comfort in is he did not die alone and he was with people who loved and cared about him and he knew that, and he wasn't out in the cold."