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| Trauma Intervention Program offers help to all victims |
| By OMAR SOFRADZIJA This week, readers want to know what help exists for accident victims. • Jennifer Thatcher asks: Is there any kind of help to offer Summer Larkin? In Laughlin they offer something called TIP (Trauma Intervention Program). She is a silent victim in all of this. Ms. Larkin must live with this. You may recall Larkin, 24, was the driver of a car that struck Adriana Lauzon and Tabatha Speas, both 13, while they were crossing Shinecock Hills Street on foot Oct. 15. Both girls later died, and the accident sparked calls for a marked crosswalk in that area. TIP has a chapter in Las Vegas, and crisis team manager Marian Thomas said she believes her volunteers were called to that accident to offer assistance. But Thomas did not know if Larkin specifically received any help. "We respond to any request by the emergency responders: fire, police, coroner, hospital, ambulance," Thomas said. "We go to the scene, the hospital, wherever we're needed and offer emotional first aid." The range of traumatic events volunteers respond to include murders, suicides, rapes, robberies, fires and even the death of family pets. "Any kind of trauma there is," said Thomas, adding that her volunteers respond to about 120 calls each month. "When little Mrs. Jones' husband of 60 years doesn't wake up in the morning, we go to little Mrs. Jones' house and spend the next few hours with her," Thomas said. "We explain procedures and offer emotional support." In the Las Vegas area, TIP has more than 50 volunteers who are on call for 12-hour shifts three times a month. They each undergo 55 hours of initial training and receive monthly continuing education sessions, Thomas said. TIP's $100,000 annual budget is paid for by private donations and contracts with police and fire agencies in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and Clark County, Thomas said. Volunteers only respond at the request of emergency response agencies. People who wish to volunteer for the group can call Thomas at ***-****. |
| ***Printed on December 03, 2003 |
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