County adds crisis intervention team to aid survivors

Jeff Schweers

Tuesday, June 3, 1997 | 11:32 a.m.

Clark County has finally joined the ranks of Henderson and Las Vegas in sponsoring a private, nonprofit organization that sends out volunteers to help survivors deal with the aftermath of a tragedy.

Three years after Las Vegas contracted the services of the Trauma Intervention Program, the County Commission has set aside $40,767 in next year's budget -- at the urging of its fire department -- to implement the program in the unincorporated areas.

"I'm just so excited," said Mariam Thomas, the crisis team manager for TIP's Las Vegas Henderson chapter, and its only paid employee. "We can help everybody in the community, that's really what it means."

TIP is the largest operator of emergency services volunteer programs in the nation, serving 75 cities, over 200 police and fire agencies and 45 hospitals.

Thomas calls TIP the best-kept secret in town, a crisis intervention squad of 33 trained volunteers who are dispatched by police or emergency teams responding to a crisis, to ensure that those who are traumatized receive the support they need.

Unfortunately, the need for such services in Clark County is growing, Thomas said. TIP had 65 calls in April 1997 compared to 32 in April 1996.

"That's double our call volume without adding the county," Thomas said.

TIP has been frustrated by the county's refusal until now to join the program, Thomas said. A letter from former County Manager Pat Shalmy in 1995 said the commission was not interested in funding the program.

"It's a hard thing when a situation happens and we don't go to because it's in the county," Thomas said, recalling the helplessness she felt when she was unable to aid the Santiago family after losing their two daughters in a house fire March 18.

"That made us sad in our heart. We're sad when we don't get to go," Thomas said. "We're not ambulance chasers. We don't go for the fun of it."

Participating entities contact the agency through the emergency dispatch, whether it's Metro Police or the fire department. If the city or county is not a member, the emergency dispatch operator won't send them through, she said.

"They don't know how to contact us because they're not part of the program," Thomas said.

Participation is based on a per capita fee that decreases each time another entity in the area signs up, Thomas said. When Las Vegas joined, the fee was 13 cents per capita, but when Henderson joined the fee went down to 11 cents. With Clark County on board the fee for each municipality is 9 cents per capita.

That fee pays for about half the cost of the volunteer training program, a 50-hour program that costs $25 per person. It also pays for copies of information packets and training manuals and postage.

Clark County's participation almost doubles the budget to help TIP recruit and train more people to cover a wider region, she said.

"Now we're working with North Las Vegas," Thomas said. "That would be the next step."